Images

This 3D model of the lava lake at Kīlauea's summit was constructed from a series of thermal images acquired during an overflight on Thursday, March 16. For scale, the lava lake is about 250 meters (820 ft) across. The lake is within the Overlook crater, which is within Halema‘uma‘u Crater.

Sunset view of the Kīlauea summit lava lake showing an active area of spattering at the right margin. Jagged openings between cooler crustal plates reveal molten lava. HVO is faintly visible on the Kīlauea Caldera rim at upper left. USGS photo February 13, 2017.

The surface breakout that started on February 10 remains active on the coastal plain just east of the main episode 61g lava flow field. The flow front, pictured here, advanced to about 300 m (0.2 miles) from the emergency access road in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, but appeared to be stalled this afternoon.

A Valentine's Day 2017 view of Kīlauea Volcano's summit lava lake, here the surface of the lake is about 21 m (69 ft) below the vent rim. The lake diameter is about 255 m or 840 ft. Careful tracking of the amount of ash emitted by lake processes suggest an important new insight into the supply of magma to Kīlauea's summit. USGS Photo.

A U.S. Geological Survey scientist used a custom-built, high-speed camera to remotely measure the temperature of spattering lava on the surface of Kīlauea Volcano's summit lava lake (background). This particular experiment, conducted from the Jaggar Museum overlook in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park on December 10, 2016, was part of a NASA-funded research project.

Left: Astronauts James A. Lovell, Jr., and Fred W. Haise, Jr., members of NASA's third team of moon explorers, carried cameras, communications equipment, and an Apollo Lunar Hand Tools scoop during a simulation of a lunar traverse at Kīlauea Volcano in December 1969.

This small-scale map shows Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow field in relation to the southeastern part of the Island of Hawai?i. The area of the active flow field as of January 12 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the active flow as of February 16 is shown in red. Older Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō lava flows (1983-2016) are shown in gray.

USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory office building is located on the rim of Kīlauea Caldera in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park.

Today, Kīlauea Volcano's summit lava lake level was 21 m (69 ft) below the vent rim. A long stretch of active spattering was visible along the east lake margin from the rim of Halema‘uma‘u Crater, an area that remains closed to the public due to ongoing hazards. The usual spatter source to the southeast was small by comparison.

HVO's geochemist uses a Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FTIR) instrument to track volcanic gases emitted from the lava lake with Halema‘uma‘u Crater. These measurements help detect changes in gas composition, which can provide insight into the inner workings of Kīlauea Volcano.

VIDEO: Kīlauea Volcano's Kamokuna ocean entry. Today, the "firehose flow" could be clearly seen from the public lava viewing area, 800 meters (about one-half mile) east of the ocean entry, in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park.

The hot crack near the sea cliff, in the immediate area of the ocean entry, has widened significantly over the past four days. On Saturday, January 28, the crack was 30 cm wide (1 foot). Today, HVO geologists in protective gear briefly entered the area and measured the crack as being 75 cm (2.5 feet).

Due to the instability of the sea cliff above the ocean entry and other hazards created by molten lava flowing into the sea, Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park has established a viewing area (noted by yellow arrow in photo) from which the ocean entry can be seen in relative safety.

Using a thermal image of the crack above Kīlauea volcano's ocean entry (steam from lava flowing into the sea is visible at the top of the left photo), HVO geologists determined that the temperature within the eastern end of the crack is up to about 220 degrees Celsius (428 degrees Fahrenheit).

At Kīlauea's ocean entry on Jan. 28 and 29, the interaction of molten lava flowing into cool seawater caused pulsating littoral explosions that threw spatter (fragments of molten lava) high into the air. Some of these incandescent clasts fell on top of the sea cliff behind the ocean entry, forming a small spatter cone.

Kīlauea Volcano's summit lava lake level typically rises and falls in concert with summit inflation and deflation, as shown by these two HVO webcam images. The left image was captured a week ago (on Jan. 17, 2017), when the lava level was 52.5 m (172 ft) below the vent rim, the lowest level measured since April 8, 2016. The right image, captured this morning (Jan.

This video clip of Kīlauea Volcano's summit lava lake shows spattering along the southeast margin of the lake.

The summit lava lake within Halema‘uma‘u Crater today (Jan. 15, 2017) was about 50.5 m (166 ft) below the crater floor (vent rim). One of the most interesting things exposed by the lower lake level was the clear view of the thick, dark veneer of lava on the eastern vent wall (close-up shown below).

A tiltmeter on the south flank of Kīlauea volcano flooded with water. The tiltmeter casing is less than a foot in diameter. USGS photo. 

On May 24, 2016, two new flows broke out on the flanks of the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō cone on Kīlauea Volcano's East Rift Zone. The silvery sheen of new lava erupting from the northern 61f breakout (center) and eastern 61g breakout (upper left) stands out in contrast to the older flows on and around Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō (right).

A past assumption about pumice deposits on Kīlauea Volcano has recently been proven wrong. In this photo, the eastern pumice (EP) can be seen above the golden pumice (GP), with stream deposits between the two. Photo courtesy of Sebastien Biasse, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.