Images

Fissure 8 may have slowed down, but HVO scientists are still on the ground in Leilani Estates, monitoring old ground cracks and marking ones that haven't been surveyed before. Monitoring these cracks over multiple days could detect any new signs of magma movement beneath the ground, one of the indicators that fissures might reactivate.

Today's morning overflight saw no new activity at any of the fissures in the lower East Rift Zone. Fissure 8 had only a sluggish lava puddle remaining in the cone, and other fissures, though steaming, showed no signs of reactivation.

The UAS team (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) flew a mission over fissure 8 to assess conditions within the cinder cone. As shown, fissure 8 contains two small ponds deep within its crater. One pond slowly circulates with an incandescent surface while the other pond is stagnant with a crusted top.

This thermal map shows the fissure system and lava flows as of 6 am on Saturday, August 11. Residual lava in the Fissure 8 flow continues to drain, feeding numerous small ocean entries (shown in main map). In the Fissure 8 cone there were two small lava ponds (shown in small inset map). The black and white area is the extent of the thermal map.

As the Halema‘uma‘u Crater has collapsed, geologists have been able to see older volcanic deposits and features buried beneath decades of lava flows. For instance, two lava tubes were spotted in the southwestern wall of the collapse crater.

Clear weather this afternoon afforded a stunning view of Kīlauea's summit, which has been "quiet" since August 4, with no significant subsidence or collapses. The flat ledge shown here (center) is part of the former Halema‘uma‘u crater floor, which dropped precipitously between mid-May and early August.

Map as of 2:00 p.m. HST, August 9, 2018. Given the dynamic nature of Kīlauea's lower East Rift Zone eruption, with changing vent locations, fissures starting and stopping, and varying rates of lava effusion, map details shown here are accurate as of the date/time noted. Shaded purple areas indicate lava flows erupted in 1840, 1955, 1960, and 2014-2015.

The carcass of a large silver-tipped grizzly bear, which succumbed to poisonous gases in the area known as "Death Gulch" in Yellowstone National Park in 1897. Image from Popular Science Monthly Volume 54, Public Domain, accessed from https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15271684.

Geologist taking a cold pāhoehoe lava sample of a August 2 overflow near Noni Farms Road.

There were small active ooze outs near the coast on the Kapoho Bay and Ahalanui lobes but the laze plume was greatly diminished. Active lava is close to the Pohoiki boat ramp but has not advanced significantly toward it.

USGS scientists produced an animated GIF in coordination with the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) re-opening of State Highway 1 through Big Sur on July 18, 2018. In 2017, the massive Mud Creek landslide buried a quarter-mile of the famous coastal route with rocks and dirt more than 65 feet deep.

Aerial view of an open channel west of Kapoho Crater. According to geologists flying over the area, the flow appeared be the result of draining from the upslope channel; no discernible movement was observed.

A diffuse laze plume this morning afforded a clear view of Isaac Hale Beach Park and the ocean entry, which was being fed across a broad front by viscous pāhoehoe. Lava flows in this area have thus far spared the Pohoiki boat ramp, visible at left.

This thermal map shows the fissure system and lava flows as of 12:30 pm on Friday, August 3. The fountain at Fissure 8 remains active, with the lava flow entering the ocean. The dominant ocean entry points were on the section of coastline near Ahalanui. The black and white area is the extent of the thermal map.

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory field crews take measurements and observations of the fissure 8 cone, in the Leilani Estates subdivision. Today, occasional bursts of spatter splashed over south rim of the cone, sending spatter down south flank of the cone almost to its base.

Early morning photo of Halema‘uma‘u, taken from the eastern rim. Inward slumping of the rim and walls of the crater continues. Ash from previous collapse events is remobilized by the wind, as pictured in the center left of the photo in the distance.

Aerial view of Isaac Hale Beach Park. The westernmost ocean entry is overriding lava flows that entered the area last week.

Rockfalls occur regularly around the Kīlauea Caldera during summit collapse events. This photograph shows rocks falling from the cliffs below Uēkahuna Bluff just after the 11:55 a.m. collapse today.

An aerial view of Kīlauea Volcano's summit taken on August 1.

Then and now. It has proven difficult to exactly match past and present views of Kīlauea's summit to show the dramatic changes in the volcanic landscape, but here's our latest attempt. At left is a photo taken on November 28, 2008, with a distinct gas plume rising from the vent that had opened within Halema‘uma‘u about eight months earlier.

The fissure 8 vent (far distance, upper right) continues to feed an active lava channel on Kīlauea Volcano's lower East Rift Zone, shown here on July 26, 2018.