Images

A vigorous spattering of the lava surface.

A vigorous spattering of the lava surface showing a small dome fountain formation.

View of Pu`u `Ō `ō and the TEB vent looking northwest. There is a distinctive separation between the two plumes coming from Pu`u `Ō `ō. The east wall vent is creating the plume closest to the east rim, and the larger plume is coming from a combination of several other vents inside the crater. The TEB vent is putting off the wispy plume in the foreground.

Spectacular eruptive activity has been occurring deep within the collapse pit in Halema`uma`u Crater at Kīlauea's summit. At times, a river of lava poured into a deeper plunge pool of lava, which had a dome fountain on its right-hand side.

Over the last several days, lava has episodically risen up to cover the bottom of the collapse pit, as shown here.

View of the inactive Waikupanaha lava delta. There has been no steam plume or lava ocean entry since the first weekend in January.

Spectacular eruptive activity has been occurring deep within the collapse pit in Halema`uma`u Crater at Kīlauea's summit. At times, a river of lava poured into a deeper plunge pool of lava, which had a dome fountain on its right-hand side.

The bottom of the collapse pit is roughly 285 meters (935 feet) below the rim of Halema`uma`u, from which this photo was taken.

A particularly clear view reveals the walls of the collapse pit above the lava surface. The lava surface is roughly 200 meters (656 feet) below the floor of Halema`uma`u Crater, which is the smooth surface in the background.

The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and Jaggar Museum are tiny bumps at the summit of Kīlauea Volcano in the background of this photo.

The photo includes five rhyolitic units of different ages: Unforested 2-ka rhyolite of "Devils chain" rests on forested 35,000 year old flow lobe from adjacent Devils Hill dome. Three pale-gray spurs form sharp salients that extend to elevations only 550 m (1640 ft) below the darker andesitic summit of South Sister.

The "Devils chain" is a string of nearly contiguous, virtually uneroded rhyolite lava domes and flows aligned north-south along a 5 km (3 mi) stretch on the southeast apron of South Sister. The largest of these is the Newberry flow (right center, below South Sister), only 2.5 km (1.5 mi) from the summit of South Sister.

Two breakouts are visible in this photo. The nearer is the lighter colored flow at the center of the image, and it is no longer active. The other is at the base of the pali just beyond and it continues to creep slowly forward.

This is the upper-most of several active breakouts from the lava tube system that started over this past weekend. Pu`u `Ō `ō is at the upper right.

Southerly winds offered decent views of the collapse pits on the west flank of Pu`u `Ō `ō. The TEB vent is the heavily fuming vent beyond Pu`u `Ō `ō to the right, and the active tube system extends to the right out of the image frame.

The Waikupanaha ocean entry remains active with its typical white steam plume blowing inland. The Hawaii County viewing area is marked by the white dots just below and left of the image center. The viewing area trailhead is at the white structure at the far right.

A beautiful example of sulfur crystals that have grown around a small fumarole near the southeast rim of Halema`uma`u crater. The vent is about 0.3 m (1 foot) long.

Although there are no surface flows anywhere on the flow field, lava continues to flow through the Waikupanaha lava tube and enter the ocean.

An aerial view looking north at two active areas of Kīlauea. Pu`u `Ō `ō crater is in the foreground, Mauna Loa (left) and Mauna Kea (right) are in the background. The fume source near the base of Mauna Loa (at Kīlauea's summit) is from the Halema`uma`u Overlook vent.

South winds allow for a different perspective of the Halema`uma`u Overlook vent.

This large rock at the Kīlauea Overlook in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park was ejected ballistically in 1790, or soon thereafter, from Kilauea Volcano's summit caldera when it was more than 600 meters (2000 feet) deep.