Videos

Join USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientist emeritus Don Swanson on a virtual walk, during which you learn about the past 500 years of Kīlauea Volcano’s history as revealed by rocks, craters, and cracks.

USGS–Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Geophysicist Jefferson Chang talks about technologies that track activity at Hawaiian volcanoes and how crowdsourcing and citizen science can contribute to a greater understanding of hazards, in this presentation to the 2020 SACNAS Advancing Hispanics/Chicanos & Native Americans in Science virtual conference held October 19-24,

This video, taken on September 23, 2020, shows a small area of bubbling or upwelling along the western shoreline of the water lake at the summit of Kīlauea. This feature may result from a submerged fumarole (gas vent) on the crater wall. The extent of this feature is limited and it does not seem to have a significant effect on the overall lake surface activity.

A helicopter overflight on September 23, 2020, provided airborne views of the water lake at the summit of Kīlauea Volcano. Visual and thermal images collected during the overflight are used for mapping the slowly enlarging lake. A segment of the video shows the remains of Crater Rim Drive, a portion of which collapsed during the 2018 summit activity.

The color zones on the lake surface shift from minute to minute. This video shows how the color zones were creating a large swirl in the lake center. USGS video by M. Patrick.

This video shows a close-up of the northern shoreline of the water lake at the summit of Kīlauea Volcano. Steaming and subtle ripples are present on the water surface. Zooming out gives a sense of the scale of the lake. The lake level is approximately 576 meters (1890 ft) below the camera. USGS video by M. Patrick.

This timelapse video shows approximately 45 minutes of activity in the water lake at the summit of Kīlauea volcano. The video shows that the color zones are highly dynamic, shifting from minute to minute. This behavior has been common in the lake during much of the past year. Note that the camera exposure changes several times, shifting the color slightly at times.

This timelapse video at Kīlauea's summit covers approximately 30 minutes and shows the dynamic nature of the water lake in Halema‘uma‘u crater. Steam from the hot water surface is constantly shifting in the winds, while the migrating color boundaries on the water surface appear to show circulation in the lake. USGS video by M. Patrick.

This thermal video shows typical activity at Kīlauea's summit water lake. Steam carried across the water surface often masks thermal features on the underlying water surface. USGS video by M. Patrick.

This video describes USGS use of Unoccupied Aircraft Systems (UAS) or "drones" for use in 2018 at Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii. The speaker, Angie Diefenbach, is a leading expert in use of UAS for volcano surveillance and research. The presentation was given in June 2020 to colleagues in Ecuador who are interested in applications of UAS at their volcanoes.

A helicopter overflight provided aerial photographs of Kīlauea caldera on May 29, and these photos were used to construct a 3D model. The water lake is visible as the tan area in the deepest portion of Halema‘uma‘u crater. For scale, the water lake is 270 m (885 ft) long and approximately 600 m (1970 ft) below the western caldera rim. USGS photos by K. Mulliken.

This wide-angle video was captured during a helicopter overflight on May 29, and skirts the southern border of Halema‘uma‘u crater. The water lake, filling the bottom of the crater, was tan and brown today, and showed no significant changes. USGS video by M. Patrick.

A small rockslide occurred today on the south wall of Halema‘uma‘u, sending boulders into the water at the bottom of the crater. USGS video by M. Patrick.

This timelapse sequence shows the water pond in Halema‘uma‘u Crater, at Kīlauea's summit, between November 1, 2019, and March 26, 2020. Over this time the water level rose approximately 14 meters (46 feet), equivalent to 67 cm (about 2 feet) per week. The timelapse shows one image per day (with a few cloudy images removed), and is looped several times.

The 2018 Kīlauea eruption produced unprecedented levels of seismicity in the volcano’s instrumented history. The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory documented about 80,000 earthquakes during the three-month-long eruption, starting with the dramatic collapse of the Puʻu ʻŌʻō cone on April 30 and ending with the final Kīlauea summit caldera collapse event on August 5.

This video clip shows a flyover of fissure 8 on Jan. 21. During the 2018 eruption, lava spilled out from the cone into a channel that extended towards the north. Lava traveled approximately 13 km (8 miles) to reach the ocean at Kapoho Bay. USGS video by M. Patrick.

This thermal video of the fissure 8 cone shows that small areas of higher temperatures (greater than 100 degrees Celsius, or 212 degrees Fahrenheit) are present on the cone. Those hotter areas likely represent residual heat in the cone and the underlying fissure. USGS video by M. Patrick.

In the year since Kīlauea Volcano’s notable 2018 eruption ended, the lower East Rift Zone has been relatively quiet. But USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists continue to gain insight into the eruption through ongoing research and monitoring. Some of the many questions asked by island residents include, Why did the fissures erupt along a linear pattern?

The 2018 eruption on Kīlauea’s lower East Rift Zone spewed around a billion cubic yards of lava into Puna. From the moment the eruption began, samples of lava were collected and rapidly analyzed by a team of USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo scientists.

Kīlauea Volcano's summit has been in an eruptive pause since the 2018 events ended over a year ago. Nevertheless, it remains a dynamic place. Ongoing inflation and seismicity indicate that the summit magma chamber is gradually recharging.

Tens of thousands of earthquakes occur each year in Hawaii, making it one of the most seismically active places in the United States.