Images

Aerial view of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō and surrounding features.

Early morning view of the fissure eruption between Nāpau Crater and Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. View is to the northwest. Fume from the eruptive vent in Halema‘uma‘u can be seen at upper right against the dark mass of Mauna Loa.

A portion of charred, lava covered forest along the east rift zone, from the initial fissure eruption that began yesterday evening (March 5).

A small fissure eruption between Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Crater and Nāpau, extending 100 m long (330 ft) and spattering 20 m (66 ft) high.

Close-up of recently opened fissure segment. Spatter reaching about 5 m into the air.

Close-up of spattering fissure. Lava reaching 10 m into the air.

View toward the SW of fissure eruption. Fissure segment in forest has shut down. Compare to earlier photos before fissure opened up in tephra.

A channelized flow was being erupted today from the vent on the west side of the floor of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō.

Map showing the extent of the active flows. Reddish-brown is the flow as mapped on February 4, 2011, while bright red shows the advancement of the flow from January 13-February 4. Small ocean entries remains active at the front of both the western and eastern branches of the flow.

View looking along recently opened fissure segment crossing tephra flats SW of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, which is in the background.

This fissure began in the early hours of March 6, erupting spatter and producing lava flows.

Spatter reaching up to 30 m (100 ft) from a fissure that opened this morning.

These tephra deposits are from the Kulanaokuaiki Tephra erupted from Kīlauea Volcano about 200 to 1000 C.E. The base of a lava flow overlying the tephra is just above the person's hand. This site is located near the base of Kīlauea's summit crater wall, directly below the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and NPS Jaggar Museum.

Fissure eruption of low lava fountains from Kīlauea Volcano’s East Rift Zone in 2007, Island of Hawaiʻi.

Aerial photo showing lava fountains and flows from one of the fissure segments on March 8. A channelized ‘A‘ā flow is hidden by fume to right. Distant fume shows locations of other earlier Kamoamoa fissures active March 5-7. Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō about 3.6 km (2.2) in distance from the fountains.

Aerial photo of the Kamoamoa eruption on March 7, 2011. The western fissure feeding a channelized ‘a‘ā flow is visible in the lower right, while the eastern end of the fissure system and Pu‘u‘ō‘ō crater are in the upper left. USGS photo by T. Orr.

Image from a thermal camera located on the rim of Halema‘uma‘u crater above the Overlook vent and looking into the vent after the lava lake nearly drained away completely starting March 5. Volcanic tremor and summit deflation began at about 1:42 p.m. HST on March 5, and was shortly followed by draining of the lava lake.

HVO gas geochemist uses a Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer to measure volcanic gas compositions emitted during the 2011 Kamoamoa fissure eruption on the East Rift Zone of Kīlauea Volcano. The instrument measures the infrared energy from the hot lava fissure as it passes through, and is absorbed by, the volcanic plume along an open atmospheric path.

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists map and measure ground cracks during the Kamoamoa eruption. USGS photo taken by N. Richter on March 6, 2011.

Scientists collect volcanic gas data using a Fourier Transform Infrared spectrometer (FTIR). During the Kamoamoa eruption, sulfur dioxide emission rates from Kīlauea’s East Rift Zone reached the highest levels since the episodes of high-fountaining at Pu‘u‘ō‘ō (1983–1986) with an average rate of 8,500 tonnes per day and a peak value of 11,000 tonnes per day.

A geologist collects a molten lava sample from the Kamoamoa eruption. USGS photo taken by M. Patrick on March 6, 2011.