Images

As this small channel of lava flows into a depression, its semi-congealed surface twists and wrinkles—forming the ropy surface commonly seen on pāhoehoe flows. Flows on the pali are visible in the background.

Close-up view of a typical surface on pāhoehoe lava.

This small-scale map shows Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow field in relation to the southeastern part of the Island of Hawai‘i. The area of the active flow field on June 30 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the active flow field as mapped on July 5 is shown in red. Older Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō lava flows (1983-2016) are shown in gray.

The flow front remains active, and continues to advance across the coastal plain. This afternoon, the flow front was approximately 1.7 km (1.1 miles) from the ocean. The leading front of the flow is the light gray area in the low center area of the photograph.

A comparison of a normal photograph (left) with a thermal image (right) taken from roughly the same vantage point. The thermal image shows the concentration of hot surface lava near the flow front, as well as areas of surface breakouts on and above the pali.

A closer look at the swiftly moving channelized lava on the pali.

The amount of channelized lava on the pali has decreased over the past week, but there were still several open channels active today.

A video of the channelized lava on the pali today.

The flow front remains active and has begun crossing the coastal plain. This afternoon, the flow front was roughly 400 m (0.25 miles) out from the base of the pali, and was 2.9 km (1.8 miles) from the ocean. The front consisted of slabby pāhoehoe, though ‘A‘ā was also active at the base of the pali.

The activity at the leading tip of the flow was vigorous, with small channels appearing from time to time.

A video of activity at the flow front today.

A short distance upslope of the leading tip of the flow, the margin was less vigorous and forming more typical pāhoehoe lobes.

Although the leading tip of the flow consisted of pāhoehoe, visible in the foreground of this photo, there was still ‘A‘ā active on the steep slopes of the pali and at the base of the pali (upper part of the photo). The open channels that were active on the pali a few days ago have largely crusted over, but some sections remained active today.

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the active flow field as of June 28 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the active flow as mapped on June 30 is shown in red. Older Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō lava flows (1983-2016) are shown in gray.

A view looking up the pali, with the channels feeding lava to the flow front, which is spreading out at the base of the pali in the bottom of the photograph.

Just above the steep section of the pali, the lava flow transitions from tube-fed pāhoehoe to the open channels that are feeding lava at the flow front.

A video showing the channelized flow near the flow front.

A section of the channelized ‘A‘ā, with what appears to be a small surge of lava moving through the channel.

Another skylight opened up in the past few days, exposing a long section of the lava stream.

The flow front reached the base of the pali yesterday, and over the past day has begun spreading out a short distance onto the coastal plain. Channelized ‘A‘ā remains active on the steep portion of the pali, with several parallel channels of swiftly moving lava.

A look into one of several skylights on the lava tube. The brightest area is the open lava stream.