Images

There have been no major changes at the Kamokuna ocean entry or lava delta. The delta remains unstable, with a large crack (noted earlier this week) that spans the entire width of the delta.

A wider view of the lava lake in the Overlook crater, taken from the rim of Halema‘uma‘u Crater (closed to the public due to volcanic hazards).

Spattering is common in the summit lava lake in Halema‘uma‘u Crater. This afternoon, spattering was active at a site along the east lake margin. Spatter deposits have built a small ledge extending out from the crater walls (lower right of photo), onto which fluid spatter often falls.

A view of the outgassing plume produced by the summit lava lake. The photo was taken from Uēkahuna Bluff, near HVO and the National Park Service Jaggar Museum.

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the active flow field as of June 21 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the active flow as of July 10 is shown in red. Older Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō lava flows (1983-2016) are shown in gray. The yellow line is the trace of the active lava tube.

This video clip gives a view of the ocean entry and the cracks on the lava delta.

This image shows a comparison of a normal photograph (left) with a thermal image (right) of the lava delta. The cracks spanning the delta, and the warm water plumes extending out from the entry point, are evident in the thermal image.

The June 26 breakout remains active at the flow front, which can be distinguished by the light silver color at the bottom-center of the photo.

A zoomed in view of the Kamokuna lava delta reveals several crack systems parallel to the sea cliff which suggests instability of the delta. Over the past few weeks, flows on the delta have built up the surface near the base of the cliff creating a slope seaward.

Campaign GPS antenna on Kīlauea's south flank at Pu‘ukapukapu inside Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park during the 2019 Kīlauea GPS campaign. View is to the southwest along the Kīlauea Volcano coastline. 

This video shows timelapse images of active pāhoehoe toes near the base of the pali.

During the March 2011 Kamoamoa fissure eruption on Kīlauea Volcano's East Rift Zone, spatter from this line of lava fountains just west of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō reached heights of 40 m (130 ft).

A closer look at the pāhoehoe flow on the coastal plain with pali in background. As the flow spread across the ground, its surface cooled and developed a hardened crust.

A breakout that started June 26 on the upper pali is now advancing across the coastal plain. The flow front has advanced approximately 500 m (0.3 miles) from the base of the pali, and was about 2.7 km (1.7 miles) from the emergency road this morning.

An aerial view of the Kamokuna lava delta reveals the recent surface breakouts (dark flows) that began on Sunday, June 25, with the short-lived firehose activity. These flows contrast nicely with the older, altered delta surface, which is much lighter in color.

A telephoto view of the crusted over firehose flow where it exits the sea cliff. Small cracks in the crust expose incandescence from molten lava within the tube that feeds the delta.

This video clip shows Kīlauea Volcano's Kamokuna ocean entry, with the steam plume rising from the front of the lava delta. Recent flows have covered the surface of the delta with fresh lava.

On the evening of June 30, 2008, littoral explosions at Kīlauea Volcano's Waikupanaha ocean entry created a fireworks-like display as incandescent fragments of lava flew through the air. When molten lava entered the sea, the water flashed to steam, triggering explosions that hurled spatter and other lava fragments up to heights of 50 m (164 ft).

This spectacular lava fountain, erupting from Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō on June 30, 1984, lasted just over 7 hours and reached a height of 318 m (1043 ft). It was one of 44 high lava fountains erupted during the first 3.5 years of Kīlauea Volcano's ongoing East Rift Zone eruption, which began in January 1983.

At the front edge of the delta, a large tube-fed stream of lava enters the ocean. Only occasional glimpses of flowing lava could be seen through the thick steam plume produced by the interaction hot lava and cool sea water. A few smaller lava streams also entered the ocean, including the one to the right of the main stream shown here.

On March 6, 2011, USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists were stationed along Kīlauea Volcano's East Rift Zone to monitor the progression of erupting fissures that had opened west of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō the day before. Lava spewing from this fissure (background) reached heights up to 30 m (100 ft) and produced a massive lava flow, visible behind the HVO scientist.