Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Photo and Video Chronology - Kīlauea - June 9, 2018

June 9, 2018

Kīlauea Volcano's summit

Aerial of summit showing cracking and slumping
Cracking and slumping of the Halema‘uma‘u crater walls are clearly evident in this aerial view captured during HVO's overflight of Kīlauea's summit this morning. Steam plumes have been rising from within the crater, as well as from cracks adjacent to the crater.
USGS-HVO geophysicists installed additional continuous GPS stations around Halema‘uma‘u this morning. These stations will allow scientists to better monitor and measure the ongoing subsidence of Halema‘uma‘u and the adjacent caldera floor.
Another aerial view showing prominent cracking around Halema‘uma‘u from the ongoing subsidence at Kīlauea's summit. The steaming cracks in the background have been observed for several days.

Kīlauea lower East Rift Zone eruption

Fissure 8 lava fountain
As of 6:30 a.m. HST today, fissure 8 continued to feed a vigorous channelized lava flow to the east of the vent. Overnight, fountain heights were generally 40–50 m (130-160 ft) high, with occasional bursts up to 60 m (just under 200 ft) high. Fallout from the fountains has built an asymmetric cinder-and-spatter cone around the vent, with the southwest side of the cone slightly higher (about 115 feet) than the northeast side (about 65 feet). This asymmetry reflects the prevailing trade winds, with more lava piling up on the downwind side of the fountains.
Aerial view of ocean entry
An aerial view of the Kapoho ocean entry, as of 6:30 a.m. HST today, shows the extent of the lava delta, now about 200 acres in size, that has formed over the past six days (lava first entered the ocean on the night of June 3). Across the front of the delta, plumes of laze—created by molten lava interacting with seawater—appeared diminished this morning, but was probably due to a change in atmospheric conditions rather than a change in the amount of fissure 8 lava reaching the ocean. Laze, a mixture of seawater steam, hydrochloric acid, and tiny volcanic glass particles, can irritate eyes, lungs, and skin, and should be avoided.
Video of the lava fountain and flow (left) from fissure 8. Only the tallest waves of the channelized flow can be seen in the video.
Video of the lava ocean entry during today's late afternoon overflight of the lower East Rift Zone. The main steam plume marks location where the primary lava channel enters the ocean.

 

A lava channel formed from a fissure eruption
Fissure 8 and lava channel in the lower East Rift Zone of Kīlauea Volcano during this afternoon's overflight, with no apparent slowing in the eruption rate. The lava channel remained incandescent all the way around Kapoho Crater before entering the ocean.
The fissure 8 cone and lava fountaining viewed at 8PM HST on June 9 from a location on Kupono Street. The incandescence to the left is lava in the active channel.

Get Our News

These items are in the RSS feed format (Really Simple Syndication) based on categories such as topics, locations, and more. You can install and RSS reader browser extension, software, or use a third-party service to receive immediate news updates depending on the feed that you have added. If you click the feed links below, they may look strange because they are simply XML code. An RSS reader can easily read this code and push out a notification to you when something new is posted to our site.