Images

On September 3, USGS HVO geologists visited fissure 7 of Kīlauea's 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption. Geologists investigated and documented vent features, and collected samples for ongoing analyses of 2018 eruption dynamics. Fountains from fissure 7 left a hole over the vent area.

Photo of Kīlauea's 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption fissure 7, from Hookupu street and looking west. The rampart is surrounded by fissure 8 lava. This view is of the back side of the rampart; lava fountains erupted on the opposite side of the rampart. 

View of the front side of fissure 7 rampart, erupted during Kīlauea's 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption. Red oxidation is present in lower layers within the rampart. Golden shelly pāhoehoe from fissure 8 surrounds the rampart. 

On September 3, USGS HVO geologists also visited fissure 21 of Kīlauea's 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption. Geologists investigated and documented vent features, and collected samples for ongoing analyses of 2018 eruption dynamics. View of fissure 21 from the northeast. A small hole has formed from collapse of the rampart.

This photo views fissure 21, of Kīlauea's 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption, from the southeast. 

Front side of fissure 21 of Kīlauea's 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption. Red oxidation and white mineral precipitates color the front of the rampart. Fountains erupted immediately in front of this feature. 

View of the 2018 Kīlauea caldera collapse structures from Kīlauea Overlook within Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. USGS photo by K. Mulliken on Sept. 2, 2020.

The colorful caldera lake at Kīlauea summit. The view is from the western rim of Halema‘uma‘u crater, 1900 ft (580 m) above the water surface, in a restricted area of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. USGS photo by M. Patrick 08/25/2020.

Kīlauea

Summit crater lake growth

July 25, 2019 to July 25, 2020

Comparison of images showing growth of Kīlauea's summit water lake over the past year. The left image, taken on August 2, 2019, shows a small green pond that was approximately 6 ft (2 m) deep. The right image, taken on July 21, 2020, shows a lake more than 130 ft (40 m) deep with shades of tan to brown and a sharp color boundary often cutting across the lake.

ANIMATED GIF: Saturday, July 25, marks the one year anniversary since water was first spotted at the bottom of Halema‘uma‘u, at the summit of Kīlauea. Over the past year, the summit water lake has grown to more than 270 m (885 ft) long and 131 m (430 ft) wide, with a surface area over 2.5 hectares (6 acres).

The May 29 overflight provided updated aerial photographs of Kīlauea summit, covering the caldera floor and showing the current size of the water lake in Halema‘uma‘u crater.

The May 29 overflight provided updated thermal images of Kīlauea summit, covering the caldera floor and showing the warm surface of the water lake in Halema‘uma‘u crater. No significant changes were observed in the surface temperature of Kīlauea's summit crater lake.

A GPS station that monitors ground deformation on Kīlauea Volcano, one of the approximately 240 volcano-monitoring stations that Steven Fuke, as part of the HVO Technician Group, designs, installs, and maintains. 

This series of maps compares aerial imagery collected prior to Kīlauea's 2018 summit collapse and the "Geologic Map of the Summit Region of Kīlauea Volcano, Hawaii" (Dutton and others, 2007; Neal and others, 2003)—created before Kīlauea's 2018 summit collapse—with aerial imagery collected after the 2018 summit collapse and a preliminary update to Kīlauea's summit ge

_{A map of the lower East Rift Zone of Kīlauea Volcano showing the fissures and flow fields from the 1955 (blue) and 2018 (pink) eruptions. Portions of the 1955 lava flows that were covered during the 2018 eruption, are represented with a blue outline.}
 

HVO technician inspects power/communication station at Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō on on April 16, 2020. USGS photos by F. Younger.

Clear weather allowed HVO geologists to make observations and take measurements of the water pond at Kīlauea's summit. No major changes were observed, and the water level continues to slowly rise. Note the former HVO observation tower can be seen above the geologist's helmet. 

USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists examine an outcrop of reddish-brown Hilo ash during a recent study to investigate the origins of volcanic ash deposits on the Island of Hawai‘i. Age dates of lava flows above and below the Hilo ash deposit indicate that the ash was erupted between 3,000 and 14,000 years ago. 

The sampling mechanism (on blue tarp) is prepared and the Unoccupied Aircraft System (UAS) is inspected just before take off to collect water from the Halema‘uma‘u crater lake. Brightly colored flagging tape tied to a cable attached to the UAS indicated depth as the sampling tool was lowered into the water. 

Geophysicist Brian Shiro, manager of the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory's seismic network, was part of HVO's team that installed several new stations on Kīlauea Volcano's lower East Rift Zone to monitor earthquakes during the 2018 eruption.