Images

This image shows a small hornito degassing on the surface of Halema‘uma‘u crater floor, at the summit of Kīlauea. Hornitos are small, rootless cones that are fed by the tube network within the lava lake. Alteration from the persistent degassing is what causes some of the variation and color you can see in the area around the hornito (note the yellows and reds).

This image shows spattering on the active lake surface of Halema‘uma‘u, as seen during a Kīlauea summit observational field shift on June 29, 2022. The areas between the smooth, silvery plates on the surface spatter vigorously as these plates get dragged down into the molten lake and new plates of rapidly cooled lava form in their place. USGS photo by L.

Rubbly ‘a‘ā from the 1855–56 Northeast Rift Zone eruption of Mauna Loa dominates the foreground of this image, taken from a pull-off of the Saddle Road on June 26, 2022. This lava flow bypassed some vegetation, forming the forested kīpuka in the middle of the image. The slopes of Mauna Loa are visible in the background, amongst a cloudy sky. USGS photo by K.

Lava lake activity continues in Halema‘uma‘u, at the summit of Kīlauea. This photo looks east, and shows that on June 24, the lava level was near the rim of the lake, with spattering along the east margin. USGS photo by M. Patrick.

Just north of the main lava lake in Halema‘uma‘u, at the summit of Kīlauea, there was a small zone of weak ooze-outs extruding from the crater floor on June 24. USGS photo by M. Patrick.

Left: Example of tephra deposits as they appear in the field. At this macro step, field geologists take notes and make detailed descriptions of the samples before collecting material for further study. Middle: A laboratory-prepared mount of volcanic glass in clear epoxy that has been polished for geochemical analysis.

Schematic east-west cross-section across Kīlauea caldera. Cartoon is not to scale, and features are greatly exaggerated for clarity. (A) Prior to the 2018 collapse, the summit eruptive vent was supplied by the Halemaʻumaʻu magma reservoir, 1–2 km beneath the caldera.

This reference map depicts the ongoing Kīlauea summit eruption on June 21, 2022. One eruptive vent (orange) is active within Halema‘uma‘u, on the western side of the crater floor.

Two hornitos degassing on the surface of Halema‘uma‘u, taken during a Kīlauea summit helicopter overflight on the morning of June 17, 2022. Hornitos are small, rootless cones that are fed by the tube network within the lava lake. These features are several tens of feet tall (less than 30 meters).

An image of Halema‘uma‘u taken during a Kīlauea summit helicopter overflight on the morning of June 17, 2022. There are several areas of degassing (the small white plumes) located across the lake surface, some of which are associated with hornitos. Hornitos are small, rootless cones that are fed by the tube network within the lava lake.

A helicopter overflight on June 17, 2022, allowed for aerial visual and thermal imagery to be collected of Halema‘uma‘u crater at the summit of Kīlauea. The active lake surface is limited to the western portion of the crater.

A helicopter overflight on June 17, 2022, allowed for aerial visual and thermal imagery to be collected of Halema‘uma‘u crater at the summit of Kīlauea. The active lake surface is limited to the western portion of the crater.

In the pastel colors of sunset, Mauna Loa's shield-shaped shadow is illuminated in this image taken at approximately 7 p.m. HST on June 13, 2022, by the MLcam. The MLcam is located on the northwest rim of Moku‘āweoweo, the summit caldera. A full moon is visible just above the shadow of Mauna Loa.

At the summit of Kīlauea, the eruption within Halema‘uma‘u continues. Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologists conducted a field observation shift the morning of June 8. From the south rim of Halema‘uma‘u, the active lava lake in the west portion of the crater was nearly full and the surface crust was slowly moving west to east.

This telephoto image, taken from the south rim of Halema‘uma‘u, shows the island of tephra that formed during the earliest stages of Kīlauea's summit eruption that began the evening of December 20, 2020. Lava erupted during the ongoing eruption continues to lap onto this feature, slowly burying it.

In this telephoto image taken from the south rim of Halema‘uma‘u, spattering and crustal foundering is visible in the east end of the active lava lake within the crater at Kīlauea's summit. Slabs of thin silvery crust are visible covering most of the lava lake surface; this crust was moving in a west-to-east motion the morning of June 8. USGS photo by J.

The crater floor of Halema‘uma‘u at the summit of Kīlauea is covered with lava flows erupted since the current eruption began on September 29, 2022. These lava flows are a patchwork of different ages, with overflows and ooze-outs along the margin of the crater floor covering new portions of the crater floor at different times.

Telephoto image of the west vent area within Halema‘uma‘u crater at the summit of Kīlauea. During an HVO geology observation shift on June 8, the west vent area was steaming and degassing as were many other areas of the crater floor. A low roaring sound could be heard from the south rim of the crater, which seemed to come from the vent area. USGS photo by J.

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) staff, along with collaborators from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, are installing seismic nodes on the Southwest Rift Zone of Kīlauea this week as part of a project funded by the Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Act of 2019 (H.R. 2157).

Unlike permanent seismic stations, which are placed farther apart and cover the entire Island of Hawai‘i, the temporary seismic nodes will be tightly grouped in order to more densely record earthquake signals across the region surrounding Pāhala.

The magnetotelluric (MT) instruments pose no health risk to people or animals and over 1–2 days will collect data that will inform HVO and collaborating scientists about the subsurface structure and fluids.