Images

A midwinter dawn at Halema‘uma‘u on Kīlauea. Steaming cracks tell of water and heat interacting beneath the summit caldera of the volcano. In the background, the first rays of sunlight illuminate Uēkahuna Bluff.

HVO geologist Matthew Patrick being interviewed on the Kīlauea lava-flow field for a documentary about Hawaiian volcanism. Growing lava delta (left background) steaming at the point of ocean entry.

Sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide gases themselves are not visible, but dramatic plumes are sometimes visible at Kīlauea Volcano's summit (shown here) and Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō.

View into fissure 8 cone in Kīlauea Volcano's lower East Rift Zone, after lava drained away.

This is a view of the summit area from the southwest, showing the collapsed area of Halema‘uma‘u and the adjacent caldera floor. A section of Crater Rim Drive preserved on a down-dropped block is visible at the far right.

What is next for Kīlauea Volcano? This is a view of the summit area from the southwest, showing the collapsed area of Halema‘uma‘u and the adjacent caldera floor. A section of Crater Rim Drive preserved on a down-dropped block is visible at the far right.

At Kīlauea's summit today, a clear morning gave way to heavy rain, which re-mobilized the ash cover between HVO and the Southwest Rift Zone, concentrating the ash in washes.

Kīlauea Volcano’s summit, seen here from the northeast rim of the caldera, has remained quiet, with no collapse events since August 2. It remains too soon to tell if this diminished activity represents a temporary lull or the end of summit collapses.

The fissure 8 lava channel remains inactive and continues to cool.

Close view of the Pohoiki boat ramp during this morning's overflight. The southern-most flow margin has not advanced significantly toward the Pohoiki boat ramp, but black sand and larger fragments from the entry areas have washed ashore to create a sand bar and beach at this site.

Aerial view of the fissure 8 cone and spillway captured by Civil Air Patrol during their overflight on August 7, 2018. View is toward the south.

This aerial view of the western part of Kīlauea Volcano's caldera was taken on August 6, 2018. The down-dropped block is faulted about 120 m (400 feet) below the caldera floor. Many 19th-century lava flows are exposed in the fault scarps. Halema‘uma‘u (not visible) is to the left of this photo.

A viscous pāhoehoe flow from Kilauea Volcano, Hawaiʻi , entering the ocean near Isaac Hale Beach Park on the morning of August 5, 2018.

Early morning photo of Halema‘uma‘u, taken from the northeastern caldera rim.

A USGS gas geochemist and colleagues from the United Kingdom carry multi-gas sensors as they approach the degassing fissure 8 cone during Kīlauea Volcano's 2018 eruption.

Lava in the fissure 8 channel spillway was fairly low this morning, with the lava in the channel moving at a fairly low velocity.

During the first two weeks of Kīlauea Volcano's 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption, fissures were characterized by low eruption rates and small flows. This was because the erupted lava originated from pockets of cooler, less fluid magma stored in the rift zone.

This view across the summit caldera shows ground cracks (center) just north of Halema‘uma‘u. Rockfalls within the crater and along the caldera walls continue to stir up dust that can be seen here rising above the caldera rim.

The south edge of the lava flow showed no incandescence this morning and remained less than 0.1 miles from the Pohoiki boat ramp in Isaac Hale Park. The main ocean entry area was still in the Ahalanui area.

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

View of growing Halema‘uma‘u from the southeast side of Kīlauea Crater.