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Kīlauea summit KW webcam has captured the recent changes to the summit. The first image, taken on December 20, 2020, just before 6 p.m. HST shows the water lake that was present until Sunday evening. At 9:30 p.m. on December 20, an eruption began in the walls of Halemaʻumaʻu crater, vaporizing the lake. The second image, taken December 24, 2020, just after 6:30 a.m. HST shows that the water lake has been replaced by a lava lake; fissures in the wall of Halemaʻumaʻu feed a lava lake that continues to fill the crater. You can view live KW webcam images here. USGS photo. 

Thermal webcams record heat rather than light and get better views through volcanic gas. At times, clouds and rain obscure visibility. (Operated by: USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory) View webcam

For more information about the water lake that existed at the summit of Kīlauea, follow the USGS Volcanoes Facebook and Twitter feeds:

• General Inquiries: askHVO@usgs.gov
• News Media contact: askHVO@usgs.gov

Status of Current Kīlauea Activity

• Latest Kīlauea Activity Update
• Plot of Kīlauea summit water depth
• Kīlauea Webcams
• Photograph chronology showing most recent imagery from HVO
• Videos and short movie clips of Kīlauea
• Maps of recent volcanic activity
• Latest earthquakes and other map-based volcano monitoring data – Use the controls on the right to filter for specific data.
• Deformation data (tilt and GPS)

"Volcano Watch" articles about Kīlauea Summit Water

ANIMATED GIF: Saturday, July 25, marked the one year anniversary since water was first spotted at the bottom of Halema'uma'u, at the summit of Kīlauea. Over the past year, the summit water lake grew to more than 270 m (885 ft) long and 131 m (430 ft) wide, with a surface area over 2.5 hectares (6 acres). The lake was over 40 m (130 ft) deep with a volume of approximately 480,000 cubic meters (125 million gallons)—equivalent to almost 200 olympic swimming pools. This animated image file (GIF) includes a series of telephoto images in a continuous loop showing the growth of the lake between August 2, 2019 and July 21, 2020, using approximately one image every 2 weeks. The apparent movement of the surrounding ground surface is not real—the shift is caused by slightly different camera angles on different days. USGS GIF by L. DeSmither.

(Public domain.)

• "Water was in Kīlauea caldera before the 2018 summit collapse" – published Aug. 13, 2020
• "How hot is Kīlauea's summit water lake?" – published Aug. 6, 2020
• "Kīlauea Volcano's summit water lake is one-year old" – published Jul. 30, 2020
• "Scientists look to Hawaiian chants for mention of past crater lakes" – published Jan. 2, 2020
• "Pondering the pond: what Halema‘uma‘u water chemistry tells us" – published Nov. 14, 2019
• "What does water in Halema‘uma‘u mean?" – published Aug. 15, 2019
• "HVO now tracking ponds of water, not lava, at Kīlauea's summit" – published Aug. 9, 2019
• "Water or not water: that is (or was) the question" – published Aug. 1, 2019

HVO scientists measured the Kīlauea summit water level almost daily using a small laser rangefinder. The pond slowly deepened until it was vaporized during the onset of an eruption in the crater on December 20, 2020.

Other USGS Kīlauea Summit Water Resources

• INFOGRAPHIC: One year of observations of Kīlauea's summit lake
• VIDEO: What's happening at Kīlauea Volcano's summit? – published Jan. 20, 2020
• VIDEO: Sampling the water in Halema‘uma‘u – Kīlauea Volcano – published Dec. 10, 2019
• VIDEO: Water appears in Halema‘uma‘u – Kīlauea Volcano – published Oct. 10, 2019

After days of rain, a window of clear weather allowed HVO geologists to make observations and take measurements of the water pond at Kīlauea's summit on January 17, 2020. No major changes were observed, and the water level continues to slowly rise. (Credit: Matt Patrick, HVO. Public domain.)

Notable Media Coverage of Kīlauea Summit Water

• Article published in September 2020: "From Lava to Water: A New Era at Kīlauea"—read it in Eos, the American Geophysical Union's science news publication
• On December 3, 2019, HVO research geologist Matt Patrick updated the Hawai‘i County Council on the Halema‘uma‘u crater lake at the summit of Kīlauea Volcano. The presentation, which was requested by the council, also summarized the implications of the crater lake for hazards. See the full presentation on Big Island Video News.
• On August 21, 2019, HVO geophysicist Jim Kauahikaua discussed the water pond in Halema‘uma‘u and what it means in a 19-minute "Island Conversations" interview aired on Hawai‘i radio stations. Listen to the full interview at B93/B97 or Big Island Video News, which includes a transcription.