Images

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's East Rift Zone lava flow field at the coast. The area of the active flow field as of September 12 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the active flow as mapped on September 20 is shown in red. The dashed blue line shows the pre-1983 coastline. The base is a Digital Globe image from January 2016.

Breakouts from the the 61g lava flow remain active on Kīlauea Volcano's coastal plain, roughly 2 km (1.2 miles) upslope of the ocean entry. This photo shows a typical lobe of pāhoehoe lava filling in a small depression.

During recent summit deflation, the lava lake within Halema‘uma‘u Crater dropped out of view of overlooks in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. But since the switch to inflation early Sunday morning (September 18), Kīlauea Volcano's summit lava lake has been rising again, bringing the lake surface back into view.

This telephoto image provides a closer view of the lava lake within Halema‘uma‘u Crater and spattering on the lake surface.

This map includes a georeferenced thermal image mosaic showing the distribution of active and recently active breakouts on the coastal flow field. The thermal mosaic was acquired during a helicopter overflight on September 12. The episode 61g flow field is outlined in yellow to show the extent of the flow.

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the active flow field as of September 1 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the active flow as mapped on September 12 is shown in red. Older Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō lava flows (1983-2016) are shown in gray.

Under trade wind conditions, Kīlauea Volcano's eastern Kamokuna lava delta is more safely viewed from outside the closed area on the east (Kalapana) side of the ocean entry. Today, trade winds were blowing the billowy white ocean entry plume, a mixture of superheated steam, hydrochloric acid, and tiny shards of volcanic glass, away from the viewing area.

A telephoto image of the eastern Kamokuna lava delta (from the same location as the photo above) shows lava dribbling into the sea and a closer view of the ocean entry plume.

The explosive interaction of hot lava entering cool seawater throws spatter (clots of molten lava, visible at center of image) from the leading edge of the lava delta forming at Kīlauea's Kamokuna ocean entry.

Lava continues to flow into the ocean at Kamokuna, with two main entry areas, both forming lava deltas. The eastern lava delta is the larger of the two, and today, a broad span of small lava streams entering the sea was creating a wide ocean entry plume. The smaller western entry was feeding a weaker plume.

Another view of the ocean entries, with the eastern entry in the foreground. For scale, a boat can be seen in the lower left portion of the image.

The lava lake at the summit of Kīlauea remained at a high level today, about 18 m (60 ft) from the floor of Halema‘uma‘u Crater at the time of this photo.

The eastern (right) lava delta is the larger of the two, with a broad span of small lava flows entering the sea creating a wide ocean entry plume. Fewer flows on the smaller western (left) entry created a weaker plume.

A breakout from the base of the pali, which began last week, remained active today, with scattered pāhoehoe lobes near the eastern margin of the 61g lava flow. Fume from the lava tubes on the pali can be seen in the upper left part of the image.

Lava flows into the sea at Kamokuna on the southeast coast of Kīlauea Volcano, with two main entry areas. Both entries have formed lava deltas seaward from the previous shoreline. The eastern (right-hand side) lava delta is the larger of the two—the broad span of small lava streams entering the sea created a wider ocean-entry plume.

View of Kīlauea's summit lava lake from the north rim of Halema‘uma‘u.

Movie showing spattering near the south edge of Kīlauea's summit lava lake in Halema‘uma‘u.

Zoomed in view of the spattering at the south edge of the lava lake. Note the black high-lava mark from this morning on the wall just behind the spattering.

Kīlauea's summit lava lake rose to within about 5 m (16 ft) of the floor of Halema‘uma‘u Crater this morning, before dropping back down slightly with the onset of spattering. This view, taken from the east edge of Halema‘uma‘u, shows spattering at the south corner of the lava lake.

This satellite image was captured on Thursday, September 8, by the Advanced Land Imager instrument onboard NASA's Earth Observing 1 satellite. The image is provided courtesy of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Although this is a false-color image, the color map has been chosen to mimic what the human eye would expect to see.

On Wednesday evening (September 7), the lava lake at Kīlauea's summit reached a high level, about 8 m (26 feet) below the floor of Halema‘uma‘u Crater. This panorama shows the former Halema‘uma‘u Overlook (closed since 2008 due to volcanic hazards) at the far left.