Videos

movie shows a draining event in the lava pond within the Halema`uma`u vent cavity. The lava column exhibited cycles of filling and draining of the vent cavity, with each cycle lasting a few minutes. As the pond drains, lava cascades into a small hole on the east side (right) of the cavity floor.

Lava within the vent cavity in Halema`uma`u crater continues to be active, and occasionally displays remarkable filling and draining cycles. This Quicktime movie shows the draining portion of one of these cycles, captured in "nightshot" mode in order to see through the thick fume.

movie (at x2 speed) shows a small explosive event in the Halema`uma`u vent at 9:20am. The explosion was immediately preceded by a portion of the vent rim collapsing into the vent cavity. The brown plume rises rapidly from the vent, and in the full resolution video large particles can be seen ejected in front of the plume.

movie shows lava within the Halema`uma`u vent cavity, at a depth of about 200 m below the vent rim. The lava surface, which is about 20 m wide, is extremely vigorous, with constant roiling and semi-continuous spattering.

movie shows the disappearance of the lava pond deep within the Halema`uma`u vent cavity during the early morning hours of October 3. The lava surface undergoes two filling and draining cycles, and then retreats to deeper levels in the conduit, completely out of view, around 2 am.

movie shows lava pond activity within the Halema`uma`u vent cavity captured with the low-light camera situated at the Halema`uma`u Overlook. The entire night of Oct 1-2, 2009, is shown here in 26 seconds, so the speed of the video is increased considerably. You can see many cycles of filling and draining, with each cycle lasting about two hours.

This video shows the remarkable fluid motion of a finger of pāhoehoe flowing into an old skylight at the top of Royal Gardens subdivision. The movement of the viscous lava resembles that of soft-serve ice cream.

movie shows vigorous spattering at the northeast margin of the lava pond that is deep within the Halema`uma`u vent cavity. The lava surface, cut by incandescent cracks, is slowly migrating towards the southeast (down in this image). The lava pond has been visible the last several nights in the Halema`uma`u Overlook webcam (see 'webcams' link above).

movie shows two separate rockfalls impacting and disrupting the active lava pond in Halema`uma`u. Rockfalls here result from collapse of the unstable walls of the vent cavity, and are a common occurrence.

movie shows spattering on the northeast margin of a small lava pond deep within the Halema`uma`u vent cavity. The video was shot in "nightshot" mode, which provides improved views through the thick fume at night. Each spatter burst represents a gas bubble, or bubbles, breaking at the surface.

movie shows a brown plume event resulting from a collapse within the Halema`uma`u vent cavity. Later views into the vent cavity with a thermal camera revealed that the floor of the vent cavity—at about 200 yards below the vent rim—had fallen away, deepening the vent cavity even further.

movie shows a view into the Halema`uma`u vent cavity with a thermal camera. To the naked eye, the vent is entirely obscured by thick fume, but the thermal camera can 'see' through much of this and provide views of the cavity interior. These views show four puffing holes on the floor of the cavity. North is to the right.

An explosion at 3:13am from the vent in Halema`uma`u ejected hot particles about a hundred yards above the vent rim, and several tens of yards above the Halema`uma`u Overlook. This Quicktime movie (shown at x2 speed) shows the event captured by a low-light camera in the HVO observation tower.

movie shows two degassing holes on the floor of the Halema`uma`u cavity. Lava is just below the rim of the two holes, creating frequent spattering which falls around their rims. Within the larger of the two (on the right), lava can be seen vigorously sloshing. For scale, these openings are about 10 yards wide.

movie shows a recent instance of the Halema`uma`u changing from its typical white to a dusty brown. The brown plume events are normally associated with collapses of the cavity walls.

movie shows a view into the Thanksgiving Eve Breakout (TEB) lava tube, thanks to a skylight (a hole in the roof of the tube). The lava stream, which is about two yards below the skylight, is moving swiftly downhill (the video is shown at actual speed), towards the Waikupanaha ocean entry.

movie shows the new gas vent which opened yesterday on the floor of the cavity in Halema`uma`u. Following this reawakening, very faint glow was observed last night for the first time since July 4

The ongoing eruption in Halema'uma'u Crater at the summit of Kilauea Volcano has experienced several significant interruptions in activity since it began in March 2008. The latest disruption began on June 30, 2009, when a large collapse of the vent rim dumped rubble onto the lava surface and dramatically reduced gas emissions.

movie shows the lava surface deep within the Halema`uma`u cavity. The lava surface is relatively sluggish, with little movement and only one spattering source.

movie shows a source of minor spattering at the margin of the ponded lava surface within the Halema`uma`u cavity. Weak sloshing of the lava surface can be seen around the spattering source.

movie shows the lava surface within the cavity at Halema`uma`u. Keeping an eye on the lower left portion of the screen, one can see a large rock impacting the lava surface. This impact appears to trigger degassing and overturning that migrates across a large portion of the lava surface.