Videos

The past ten years have seen historic changes on Kīlauea volcano, spanning from the summit, down the East Rift Zone, and to the coast.

Communities on the Island of Hawai‘i continue to recover from Kīlauea’s 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption and summit collapse as does the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO). During the events of 2018, HVO instruments were lost, monitoring infrastructure was impacted, and HVO staff had to evacuate the observatory, which was damaged beyond repair.

Incredibly high sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission rates were measured during the lower East Rift Zone of Kīlauea in 2018—nearly 200,000 tonnes per day. Emissions dropped to only about 30 tonnes per day during Kīlauea’s non-eruptive quiet period from 2018–2020.

Before we get into what happened during the month of December 2021, let’s review what happened at Yellowstone over the past year.

Following the lower East Rift Zone eruption and summit collapse of Kīlauea in 2018, the volcano remained quiet for more than two years. Lava returned to Kīlauea in December 2020, boiling off the water lake that had been present at the base of Halema‘uma‘u crater, and starting a five-month long eruption in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park.

The last year has been a busy one for seismologists at the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. Earthquake activity at Kīlauea summit has varied over the past year, with upticks in a variety of seismic signals providing clues to the start of the December 2020 and September 2021 Kīlauea summit eruptions.

Eruptive activity resumed today in Halema‘uma‘u crater, at the summit of Kīlauea volcano, after a brief pause of several days. This video shows spattering and lava effusion from the west vent, which has built a steep spatter cone. 

Structure-from-motion techniques use photographs taken from different angles to reconstruct the three-dimensional shape of an object. At Kīlauea, this technique has been used to rapidly generate maps of eruption activity from aerial imagery, allowing scientists to quantify changes over time such as the volume of lava erupted and surface area covered by lava.

Eruptive activity on the west side of HALMEMAUMAU crater, Kīlauea summit, on December 20. Audible bubble bursts from the west vent (lower right) produced brown-tinted gas plumes with entrained lava fragments. The bursts also created pressure waves that displaced the white steam.

Olivine—the green mineral found in Hawaiian lavas—and its chemistry can tell us a lot about how, when, and where magmas move inside volcanoes before they erupt. Join Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologist Kendra J.

Some people have characterized the seasonal rise and fall of Yellowstone as being like breathing. During the summer there is a little pause in the overall trend of subsidence and sometimes even a short episode of slight uplift. The trend reverses in early winter.

Lava continues to erupt from a perched lava pond within the west vent of Halema‘uma‘u crater at the summit of Kīlauea. This video shows nearly continuous spatter bursts through the pond and a roiling and sloshing pond surface. At about 43 seconds into the video, a white-trailed tropicbird (koa‘e kea) flies through the frame.

Lava continues to erupt from the west vent in Halema‘uma‘u, and supply the lava lake through a spillway in the spatter cone. On November 12, a small overflow of the perched lava lake levee was visible from the western crater rim. Overflows are an important process for building up perched levees, as they help add height and stability.

Lava continues to erupt from the west vent in Halema‘uma‘u, and supply the lava lake through a spillway in the spatter cone. On November 9, a close-up view of the west vent shows spatter bursting and sloshing within the cone. Spatter was thrown about 6–9 m (20–30 ft) above the pond surface, occasionally depositing spatter onto the rim of the cone. 

The November 2021 YVO Yellowstone Volcano update comes to you from a very snowy Norris Geyser Basin with a story about Porkchop Geyser’s 1989 explosion.

Eruptive activity continues in Halema‘uma‘u, at the summit of Kīlauea. The west vent remains active with low fountaining in a slightly perched pond set within the cone. Lava pours through a short spillway into the lava lake. The base level of the pond fluctuates over the timespan of minutes.

It has been one month since the new eruption began in Halema'uma'u. Over the past year at Kīlauea summit there has been a water lake and two eruptions within Halema'uma'u crater.

Eruptive activity continues in Halema‘uma‘u crater, at the summit of Kīlauea. The west vent remains active with low fountaining in a slightly perched pond set within the cone. Lava pours through a short spillway into the lava lake.

Morning views of the eruption within Halema‘uma‘u crater, at Kīlauea summit, on October 23, 2021. Variable west vent fountain heights are visible in this video, which is shown at 5 times speed.

Morning views of the eruption within Halema‘uma‘u crater, at Kīlauea summit, on October 23, 2021. This view is from the south rim of the crater. Lava continues to erupt from a single vent on the western wall of the crater. Lava fountains within the cone and spills out of the cone opening, flowing east into the lake.

A morning overflight of Kīlauea summit on October 15, 2021, provided aerial views of the eruption within Halema‘uma‘u. Lava erupts from a single vent on the western wall of the crater. The vent has a spatter cone around it, with an opening to the east from which lava flows into the lava lake.