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The eruption in Halema‘uma‘u at Kīlauea's summit on the Island of Hawai‘i continues, with the west vent erupting lava into the lava lake. Gas emissions and seismic activity at the summit remain elevated. HVO field crews—equipped with specialized safety gear and PPE—monitor the current eruption from within the closed area&nbs
HVO scientists collect detailed data to assess hazards and understand how the eruption is evolving at Kīlauea's summit, all of which are shared with the National Park Service and emergency managers. Access to this hazardous area is by permission from, and in coordination with, Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park.
ANIMATED GIF: This animated image file (GIF) includes a series of webcam images—about one image every two hours—from the F1cam thermal webcam located on the western rim of Halema‘uma‘u crater, Kīlauea summit. The images (looped once) starting at 12:00 a.m. HST on December 20, 2020, show the last few hours of the summit water lake prior to the start of the eruption at approximately 9:30 p.m. that night. The final image was taken at 2:00 p.m. HST on January 13, 2021, showing the changes in eruptive activity so far. USGS GIF by L. DeSmither.
Visual photographs taken during a helicopter overflight of Halema'uma'u crater on January 7, 2021 (at Kīlauea Volcano) are used to create a 3D model of the crater. This technique is called structure-from-motion photogrammetry and uses the multiple perspectives captured in dozens of photos to reconstruct the crater shape on a computer. USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists use these models to help calculate erupted volume, eruption rate, and measure the size of features in the crater. This video is a computer-generated fly-through of the January 7 model, and focuses on the main island in the lava lake. The height of the island’s edges was measured at 8 m (26 ft), and the island’s high point above the lake surface was measured at 23 m (75 ft). Also pictured are small island on the east end of the lake and the location of the active west vent and the inactive north vent.
