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Changes at the summit of Kīlauea between April 14 and August 20, 2018, were captured by a USGS–Hawaiian Volcano Observatory camera. This time-lapse series includes roughly one image per day. The lava lake within Halema‘uma‘u is visible in April, with overflows onto the caldera floor on April 23. The lava lake drains in early May, followed by explosive activity over the next few weeks. Large-scale subsidence of Halema‘uma‘u and the adjacent caldera floor begins at the end of May and ends abruptly on August 2. Summit seismicity and ground deformation are negligible through August 20, 2018. The crater within the caldera is now seven times larger than it was before the onset of subsidence.
In this panorama of the lava channel near fissure 8, the greatest measured depth was 9.5 m (31 ft). 'Bathtub rings' (high-flow markers) were visible on the channel walls, and many of the walls and ramparts were beginning to collapse into the empty channel.
