Videos

Heat from the high lava lake level in the 'overlook' vent in Halema‘uma‘u is causing the walls of the vent above the lava surface to expand and fracture. This is the source of the cracking and booming noises emanating from the vent in recent days.

Video zoomed in on the spattering at the west edge of the lava lake in the 'overlook' vent in Halema‘uma‘u.

This Quicktime movie shows the impressive spattering at the western margin of the lava lake at Halema‘uma‘u. The continuous spattering is often punctuated by bursts which throw lava onto the ledge (left portion of image), and this accumulating lava is building a spatter rampart.

This Quicktime movie shows spattering that is typical at the margins of the lava lake in Halema‘uma‘u crater. The slow migration of the lava lake surface is normally towards the area of spattering, where the lava sinks back into the magmatic system. Spatter in this clip is being thrown about 5-10 meters (yards) in height.

The lava lake in Halema‘uma‘u has been at a relatively high level over the past week, and several rise-fall cycles (short term increases in lava level immediately followed by spattering and an abrupt drop) pushed the level even higher over the past day.

A small lava pond, set within a collapse pit, has been active in the eastern portion of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater for the past several weeks. At the east margin of the lava pond, lava sinks back into the system, with frequent spatter bursts sourced from this downwelling spot.

This Quicktime movie begins with a view of lava in Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō made possible by a small collapse pit. The lava is swiftly moving towards the northeast, and this represents lava within Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater that is entering the lava tube system which, in turn, feeds the active flow field.

This Quicktime movie shows vigorous spattering along the south margin of the Halema‘uma‘u lava lake. Lava, upwelling in the northern portion of the lake (out of view), slowly migrates to this southern margin where it sinks back into the conduit.

--fissures...fountains...and flows

by Matthew Patrick, USGS, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory

Video showing the fast-moving upper section of the lava stream on the relatively steep eastern flank of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. The video pans to the left to show the smaller lava stream eruption from the lower (eastern) end of the fissure.

Video showing a 6 m (20 ft) high lava cascade near the eastern base of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. This is the same lava stream shown in the previous two videos. The lava stream continues on several hundred more meters (yards) before transitioning into rubbly pāhoehoe and ‘a‘ā and stalling well short of yesterday’s flow front, which is now inactive.

This Quicktime movie shows views of the numerous spattering vents during today's overflight. Spattering at each source is creating spatter cones and ramparts, and the lava issuing from the individual vents is creating a series of narrow streams which join to feed a broader flow channel.

This Quicktime video shows recent activity at the lava lake deep within the Halema‘uma‘u vent cavity. Spattering can be seen in the northwest corner (upper left) and a steady stream of lava, coming from an unseen source towards the southeast, is in the lower right. For scale, the lava lake is about 150 meters (164 yards) wide here.

This movie shows activity at some of the individual vents, which are each distinct in their behavior.

This movie shows views from today's overflight of the vents on the lower west flank of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. There are several vents, topped by spatter cones, that are feeding narrow, fast-moving flows that feed into a broad area of ponded lava.

Video showing the main lava stream on the lower east flank of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. This stream carries most of the lava—the rest splits off to the south (to the left) and flows behind the mounds at upper left. The previous video shows the section of the stream visible at upper right.

(Aug 19, 2006, 00:00:33 to 01:40:33) To document changes in the lava stream level within the PKK lava tube, a time-lapse camera was placed at the edge of the informally named "Kelly's" skylight. The camera recorded several abrupt and short-lived increases in lava stream level that eventually sealed the skylight shut.

This Quicktime movie shows a timelapse sequence taken from the webcam on Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō's north rim. The movie starts just after noon on August 3, with the typical westward flow of lava within the perched lava lake. Just after 2pm, breakouts start on the flank of the perched lava lake and the lake begins to drop.

This Quicktime movie shows a timelapse sequence taken from a thermal camera on the south rim of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, beginning just before noon on August 3. Just after 2pm, the lava lake and surrounding floor abruptly drop. As the lava lake drops, solidified portions of the crater floor slide into the fluid lava.

This Quicktime movie shows the recent uplift of the lava lake and crater floor in Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater, captured by a thermal camera on the crater rim. The time-lapse movie spans July 9 to today, July 18, and is looped several times. The uplift was continuous between July 9 and 16, but had stalled by the 17th.

Between June 16 and June 23, 2006, the floor of the pit containing the "Drainhole" vent collapsed, revealing a small lava pond about 12 meters across. Gas pistons continued to occur but were much larger, as is evident when comparing this movie to the others with the same title.