Kīlauea summit lava lake overflows onto Halema‘uma‘u floor

Beginning around midnight on Saturday, April 21, Kīlauea Volcano's summit lava lake rose high enough that lava briefly spilled onto the floor of Halema‘uma‘u. Since then, additional overflows occurred in four pulses on April 22-23. The largest one occurred during the fourth pulse, which started at 6:30 a.m. today (Monday, April 23) and continued for about three hours, covering about a third of the crater floor with shiny black lava. Early this morning, HVO geologists (shown here) used a laser range-finder to measure the depth to the lava lake surface at its peak level. The silhouettes of HVO and Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park's Jaggar Museum are visible on the rim of Kīlauea's summit caldera (center high point). Mauna Loa can be seen in the far distance (left). The area around Halema‘uma‘u remains closed to the public due to ongoing volcanic hazards, including high sulfur dioxide gas emissions and unexpected rockfalls and explosions.