Images

Nighttime view of fissure 8 lava as it exits the vent and feeds into the channel.

This morning, USGS scientists flying over fissure 8 noticed a change in the vent from yesterday. Gas jets were throwing spatter—fragments of glassy lava (light gray deposits)—from small incandescent areas deep within the cone. This activity is an indication that the lower East Rift Zone eruption may be paused rather than pau (over).

Data from continuous GPS stations indicate how the ground is moving over time. Station WLWY, near White Lake on the Sour Creek resurgent dome in Yellowstone caldera, has been operating since 2001. This plot shows vertical ground motion recorded at the site.

View from the bank of the cooling lava channel near the Leilani Estates subdivision. The height difference between the channel (right) and upper bank (left) is about 8 m (26 ft). Although lava is not flowing from fissure 8, the lava flow field includes large areas of still-hot, rugged, and unstable lava surfaces.

View from this morning's helicopter overflight of the Pohoiki boat ramp at Isaac Hale Park shows black sand, transported to the southwest by longshore currents, blocking the entrance to the small boat harbor.

Temperature record from Echinus geyser outflow channel for October 17–20, 2017. The plot captures a time when the geyser went from occasional eruptions to semi-regular eruptions (signified by temperature spikes after about 12:00 on October 18) occurring about every 2 hours.

Lava continues to ooze into the ocean at scattered entries along the Kapoho (pictured) and Ahalanui lobes.

A sand bar has built up at the end of the Pohoiki boat ramp, but the ramp itself remains intact and there has been no significant lava advance toward the ramp in recent days.

Fissure 8 may have slowed down, but HVO scientists are still on the ground in Leilani Estates, monitoring old ground cracks and marking ones that haven't been surveyed before. Monitoring these cracks over multiple days could detect any new signs of magma movement beneath the ground, one of the indicators that fissures might reactivate.

Today's morning overflight saw no new activity at any of the fissures in the lower East Rift Zone. Fissure 8 had only a sluggish lava puddle remaining in the cone, and other fissures, though steaming, showed no signs of reactivation.

This thermal map shows the fissure system and lava flows as of 6 am on Saturday, August 11. Residual lava in the Fissure 8 flow continues to drain, feeding numerous small ocean entries (shown in main map). In the Fissure 8 cone there were two small lava ponds (shown in small inset map). The black and white area is the extent of the thermal map.

The UAS team (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) flew a mission over fissure 8 to assess conditions within the cinder cone. As shown, fissure 8 contains two small ponds deep within its crater. One pond slowly circulates with an incandescent surface while the other pond is stagnant with a crusted top.

Clear weather this afternoon afforded a stunning view of Kīlauea's summit, which has been "quiet" since August 4, with no significant subsidence or collapses. The flat ledge shown here (center) is part of the former Halema‘uma‘u crater floor, which dropped precipitously between mid-May and early August.

As the Halema‘uma‘u Crater has collapsed, geologists have been able to see older volcanic deposits and features buried beneath decades of lava flows. For instance, two lava tubes were spotted in the southwestern wall of the collapse crater.

Map as of 2:00 p.m. HST, August 9, 2018. Given the dynamic nature of Kīlauea's lower East Rift Zone eruption, with changing vent locations, fissures starting and stopping, and varying rates of lava effusion, map details shown here are accurate as of the date/time noted. Shaded purple areas indicate lava flows erupted in 1840, 1955, 1960, and 2014-2015.

The carcass of a large silver-tipped grizzly bear, which succumbed to poisonous gases in the area known as "Death Gulch" in Yellowstone National Park in 1897. Image from Popular Science Monthly Volume 54, Public Domain, accessed from https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15271684.

Geologist taking a cold pāhoehoe lava sample of a August 2 overflow near Noni Farms Road.

There were small active ooze outs near the coast on the Kapoho Bay and Ahalanui lobes but the laze plume was greatly diminished. Active lava is close to the Pohoiki boat ramp but has not advanced significantly toward it.

Aerial view of an open channel west of Kapoho Crater. According to geologists flying over the area, the flow appeared be the result of draining from the upslope channel; no discernible movement was observed.

A diffuse laze plume this morning afforded a clear view of Isaac Hale Beach Park and the ocean entry, which was being fed across a broad front by viscous pāhoehoe. Lava flows in this area have thus far spared the Pohoiki boat ramp, visible at left.

This thermal map shows the fissure system and lava flows as of 12:30 pm on Friday, August 3. The fountain at Fissure 8 remains active, with the lava flow entering the ocean. The dominant ocean entry points were on the section of coastline near Ahalanui. The black and white area is the extent of the thermal map.