Unified Interior Regions

Quicktime movie showing a close-up of spattering at the south edge of the lava lake in the vent at Halema‘uma‘u.

This Quicktime movie shows a quick video of the lava lake in Halema‘uma‘u crater taken during today's overflight. The lava surface has recently been very shallow, as little as 90 meters (98 yards) below the floor of Halema‘uma‘u crater. When the video was taken, the lava was at a high stand during part of a rise and fall cycle, when very little gas is emitted and views are

Movie showing ashy plume rising above Kīlauea's summit vent in Halema‘uma‘u crater. The plume was the result of the collapse of a portion of the vent wall moments earlier.

Movie of the lava lake in Kīlauea's summit vent in Halema‘uma‘u crater minutes after a slice of the vent wall had plunged into the lava. The lava lake is roiling violently as the recently added wall debris is digested by the lava. Slabs of rock can be seen breaking loose from the base of the overhanging vent wall and falling into the lava. The length of time it takes the

This Quicktime movie shows a timelapse sequence taken from a thermal camera on the rim of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater. The movie spans from May 26 to today and shows the rising level of the lava lake in the crater. In the first part of the movie, covering most of June, the level of the lava lake rises primarily due to overflows building the steep levee walls higher. In the last

This Quicktime movie shows the refilling of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō over the past two months, taken from a thermal camera on the south rim of the crater. Lavadrained from Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō on March 5 during the Kamoamoa fissure eruption, and remained absent for several weeks. This thermal camera began recording on March 18, and shows the abrupt return of lava to the crater floor on March 26.

A view of Moku‘āweoweo, the summit caldera of Mauna Loa, as seen from South Pit (looking to the north-northwest). An eruption in 1940 created the cinder-and-spatter cone visible on the caldera floor (right center). This cone, which is about 114 m (373 feet) high, is the largest cone at Mauna Loa's summit. The cone on the southwest rim of the caldera (left center) was built

This aerial view of Mauna Loa's summit shows the cinder-cone and lava flows that were erupted in 1949. The crack extending down the left side of the cone is the northeast-southwest trending 1984 fissure that bisected the southwest flank of the cone during the initial phase of the eruption. Light-brown tephra erupted from the 1949 cone thins to the west. The steep caldera

An aerial view of the 1940 cinder-and-spatter cone on the floor of Mauna Loa's summit caldera as seen from the southeast. The west wall of the caldera (background) is about 170 m (560 feet) high. Most of the caldera floor around the cone is covered by lava flows erupted in 1984.

View looking up Mauna Loa's spectacular Southwest Rift Zone. Pu‘u o Keokeo fills the lower half of the photo. The black lava beyond is mostly from 1916 and 1926. The summit of Mauna Loa is in the background.

View from just below the summit of Mauna Loa looking back down the Southwest Rift. The Sulfur Cone is the white area just above center frame. Pu‘u o Keokeo is the barely visible bump just above Sulfur Cone at the crest of the Southwest Rift.