The rise and fall of Kīlauea's summit lava lake

Since early September 2016, Kīlauea's summit lava lake level has fluctuated, as shown in these side-by-side webcam images. On September 10 (left), the summit lava lake rose to within 5 m (16 ft) of the vent rim, only to drop the next day with the onset of summit deflation. Since then, the lava lake level has been up and down in concert with summit inflation and deflation, dropping to 30 m (98 ft) below the vent rim on September 24 (right)—and as low as 36 m (118 ft) the next day. For insight on what's happening with Kīlauea Volcano's summit lava lake and what it means, check out this recent HVO "Volcano Watch" article—https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/observatories/hvo/hvo_volcano_watch.html?vwi…. To track the summit lava lake activity, please visit HVO's webcam images at https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/observatories/hvo/hvo_multimedia.html.