Images

A paint brush is very useful to discern individual Kulanaokuaiki Tephra units by clearing away overlying younger ash and Pele's hair. At this field site on the south flank of Kīlauea, the Kulanaokuaiki Tephra is overlain by Observatory Shield lava flows and underlain by the Kīpuka Nēnē lava flows.

No changes were observed at Kīlauea's summit during a brief field visit on September 3, 2021. Sunny weather made for spectacular views, though strong winds were blowing. The solidified crust of the lava lake within Halema‘uma‘u—which was active from December 2020 to May 2021—is visible in the lower center of this image. USGS photo by K. Mulliken.

View from a temporary webcam, which is located just southwest of Kīlauea summit caldera, and looks south over the area of the August 2021 intrusion. The dark lava flow on the left of image (mid-ground) is where the 1982 lava flow spilled out of the south caldera.

An HVO scientist clears tephra from a solar panel during the September 2021 Kīlauea summit eruption. A glove is used to brush away the Pele’s hair and other fine volcanic glass fragments to avoid small cuts and splinters.

View to the southwest from HVO station HRPKE, showing Pu‘ukoa‘e on Kīlauea's Southwest Rift Zone in the background.

Station HRPKE is located southwest of Kīlauea's summit, in the upper Southwest Rift Zone region, within Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. The station measures sulfur dioxide (SO₂) concentrations in the air, as well as local meteorological data such as wind speed, wind direction, and rainfall.

On August 31, the water level in Keller Well was measured at approximately 514.12 m (1686.75 ft) below the ground surface. Though an intrusion of magma took place beneath the ground surface in Kīlauea's south caldera region from August 23–30, water level in Keller Well does not show significant changes as a result of this event. USGS image by P. Nadeau.

On Tuesday, August 31, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) scientists and technicians visited the Keller Well in Kīlauea's south caldera region. Water from the well is typically sampled and analyzed quarterly to monitor how magma supply to Kīlauea's summit reservoirs might impact regional ground water.

This map depicts the detected intrusive activity over the past week at Kīlauea Volcano. The initial swarm of small earthquakes from August 23–25 was centered in the south caldera region, as labelled on the map.

Map showing the seismic activity beneath the south part of Kīlauea caldera, within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, from August 23, 2021, at noon through the same time on August 25, 2021. The earthquake swarm began in that region at around 4:30 p.m. HST on August 23 and continued until the morning of August 25, 2021.

An HVO scientist uses a syringe to capture a sample from an area within Kīlauea caldera that was identified as emitting elevated levels of the volcanic gas carbon dioxide. The sample is transferred to a gas sample bag, which will later be taken to a lab for chemical analyses. USGS photo by K. Mulliken on August 3, 2021.

On the north margin of the south sulfur bank, which was exposed during the Kīlauea summit collapse events in 2018, light-colored deposits are evidence of the ongoing alteration from volcanic gas emissions.

Spatter ramparts from the April 30, 1982, Kīlauea summit eruption remain visible on the floor of Kīlauea caldera. During this brief eruption, which lasted approximately 19 hours, lava erupted from a 1-km-long (0.6 mile) fissure that extended to the northeast of Halema‘uma‘u.

During the gas survey of Kīlauea caldera, HVO scientists walk transects in a grid-like pattern. As they traverse, the MultiGAS instruments that they are carrying on their backs measure the amount of carbon dioxide (CO₂), sulfur dioxide (SO₂), water vapor (H₂O), and hydrogen sulfide (H₂S).

From the northwest corner of the largest down-dropped block within Kīlauea caldera, HVO scientists were able to spot the southern edge of the lava lake that was recently active, from December 2020 to May 2021. The ongoing Kīlauea caldera gas survey is being conducted with permission from Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park.

On Tuesday, August 10, HVO scientists traversed the west and south rims of Halema‘uma‘u, at the summit of Kīlauea, to collect photos of the inactive lava lake from many different angles. Such a collection of photos will enable the construction of a three-dimensional model of the crusted lake surface using structure-from-motion software.

In recent weeks, HVO geophysicists have been undertaking a Global Positioning System (GPS) campaign across Kīlauea.

HVO scientists continue their survey of Kīlauea caldera floor, including the down-dropped block, for ​diffuse volcanic gas emissions. This photo shows a large crack, on a portion of the caldera floor that subsided in 2018, that is emitting volcanic gas and steam.

Stacked lava flows are visible in the wall of the down-dropped block, which was exposed during the Kīlauea summit collapse events in 2018. A small exposure of lighter-colored volcanic ash, likely the Keanakāko‘i tephra deposits erupted during Kīlauea's last explosive phase several hundred years ago, is visible beneath tens of meters (yards) of lava flows.

A view looking north into Halema‘uma‘u on July 30, 2021. Although eruptive activity has paused at the summit of Kīlauea, HVO geologists still monitor the lava lake and summit area weekly. Lava lake surface depths remain the same since mid to late May when active lava was last observed at the surface. USGS photo by N. Deligne. 

Eruptive activity paused within Halema‘uma‘u, at Kīlauea's summit, a bit more than 2 months ago. In that time, the spatter cone at the western fissure complex has slowly degraded due to numerous small scale collapses, leaving a debris apron (fresh looking rubble) and exposing the interior of the spatter cone. USGS photo by N. Deligne.