Images

A voluminous and ash-laden plume could be seen this morning from the Volcano Golf Course in Volcano, Hawaii. This view is nearly due north of the Halema‘uma‘u plume.

At 11:05 a.m. HST. Photograph from the Jaggar Museum, Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park, captures an ash plume rising from the Overlook crater. Ash falling from the plume can be seen just to the right side (and below) the plume.

Incandescence observed at Fissure 14 around 10:30 AM May 15. Pulsing gas rushing sounds could be heard coming from the crack. Yellow sulfur deposits appear on the crack margins.

Ash plume viewed from the Volcano Golf Course near Volcano, Hawai‘i. This view is nearly due north of the Halema‘uma‘u crater.

At 11:43 HST, Civil Air Patrol flight CAP20 reported plume tops at about 9,500 ft with the dispersed plume rising as high as 11,000 ft.

Map as of 6:45 a.m. HST, May 15, shows the location of the 'a'ā lava flow spreading from fissure 17; the flow front at the time is shown by the small red circle with label. The flow is following well a path of steepest descent (blue line), immediately south of the 1955 'a'ā flow boundary.

At 1:38 p.m. HST, ash falls from the plume southwest from Halema‘uma‘u crater onto the Kau desert. The northeast tradewinds were persistent today at the summit of Kīlauea Volcano, so ash was only blown southwest.

At 1:38 p.m. HST, another dark ash plume rose from the Overlook crater. During a flight earlier today by the Civil Air Patrol, the height of the ash plumes near the crater rose to more than 3 km (9,800 ft) above sea level, and downwind the plumes continued to rise to about 3.5 km (11,500 ft) above sea level.

Activity at Halema‘uma‘u crater increased this morning to include the nearly continuous emission of ash with intermittent stronger pulses that form occasional higher plumes 1-2 kilometers (3,000 to 6,000 feet) above the ground. This photo shows the ash plume at about 9 a.m. HST.

At 11:43 HST, Civil Air Patrol flight CAP20 reported plume tops at 9,500' with the dispersed plume up to 11,000'. The CAP mission was launched from Hilo in support of Hawai'i County Civil Defense and USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory response to the ongoing eruption. Ashfall from this plume has been reported falling on communities downwind.

Toothpaste lava oozes out from the stalled northeast lobe of the Fissure 17 flow.

At 8:44 a.m., HST. Aerial view of the active ‘a‘ā flow spreading from fissure 17 (the fissure's low lava fountains can be seen in middle of photo). Highway 132 can be seen on right side of photograph. View is toward the west.

7:00 a.m., HST. An early morning view of fissure 17, still erupting and supplying lava to a flow that was still advancing (out of view). View is looking toward the east.

Around 2:30 p.m. HST, a steam jet appears on fissure 17, above the area with active fountaining. Steam jets at this location were repeating about once a minute.

At 2:30 p.m. HST, the flow front of Fissure 17 continues down slope. The barren, brown area to the right in the photograph is a lobe of the Kii Flow from the eruption of 1955. The Fissure 17 flow front is located approximately .7 miles makai of Highway 132 and is 1.4 miles mauka of Hwy 137.

At 2:56 p.m. HST. Aerial photo of fumes from fissures and an active ‘A‘ā flow, blown southward during tradewind conditions. This view is looking toward the west. Photo courtesy of Civil Air Patrol (CAP).

Aerial view of fissure 17 around 4:30 p.m. HST. On the west end of the flow, intermittent percussive jetting threw spatter and lava bombs up to 500 feet above the ground. East margin of the ‘A‘ā flow was cascading into a pit or graben.

At 2:54 p.m., HST. Aerial photo of the fissures and associated plumes. This view is toward the east. The CAP mission was launched from Hilo in support of Hawai‘i County Civil Defense and USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory response to the ongoing eruption.

This thermal map shows the fissure system during an overflight of the area this afternoon (the western part of the thermal map, in Leilani Estates, was based on a May 9 overflight, and fissure activity in that region has not changed since that time). Fissure 17 was producing a lava flow extending about 1.7 km (1.1 miles) from the fissure.

At 2:00 p.m. HST. View of Fissure 17 looking makai (southward) from Hwy 132

At 2:00 p.m. HST. This photo reveals a small pad of lava between Fissures 16 and 17 which did not appear in photos of the same scene taken this morning. (Red arrow points to the lava pad.) From the photo it appears that this fissure had stagnated. We have designated this small outbreak as Fissure 18.