Kīlauea
2019-2020 Summit Water
Ponded water first appeared at the bottom of Halema‘uma‘u crater at the summit of Kīlauea Volcano in late July 2019. The pond slowly deepend until December 20, 2020 when an eruption from the crater wall sent lava pouring into the lake, which caused it to boil off.
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
- "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
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
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.