Images

Early morning view of the ocean entry. The lava fountain from fissure 8 is visible behind the laze plume rising from the entry point. The open lava flowchannel is visible just beyond the solidified darker flows in the foreground.

The USGS UAS (unoccupied aircraft system) team took this photograph of Halema‘uma‘u Crater from the Kīlauea Overlook on this morning. They are preparing for a flight to map further subsidence at the summit.

Fissure 8 continues building a tephra cone and producing a robust channelized lava flow on Kīlauea Volcano's Lower East Rift Zone.

The USGS UAS (unoccupied aircraft system) team took this photograph of Halema‘uma‘u Crater from the Kīlauea Overlook on this morning. They are preparing for a flight to map further subsidence at the summit.

Fissure 8 continues building a tephra cone and producing a robust channelized lava flow on Kīlauea Volcano's Lower East Rift Zone.

This thermal map shows the fissure system and lava flows as of 6 am on Thursday, June 21. The fountain at Fissure 8 remains active, with the lava flow entering the ocean at Kapoho. Very small, short flows have been active near the Fissure 6 and Fissure 16/18 area. The black and white area is the extent of the thermal map.

Geologist makes early morning observations of the lava fountain and channelized flow at fissure 8 in Leilani Estates.

Small streams of lava enter the ocean across a broad area, shown by the multiple white steam and laze plumes. Lava has added about 380 acres of new land into the sea.

View of the southern edge of the growing Halema‘uma‘u crater (middle right) during yesterday's helicopter-assisted work at Kīlauea's summit. The once-popular parking lot (closed since 2008) that provided access to Halema‘uma‘u is no longer—the parking lot fell into the crater this past week as more and more of the Kīlauea Crater floor slides into Halema‘uma‘u.

HVO geologist measures 260 degrees C (500 degrees F) along ground cracks near fissure 10 in Leilani Estates. Geologists routinely make temperature measurements to track changes throughout the fissure complex in the lower East Rift Zone.

Lava from fissure 8 travels about 13 km (8 mi) to the ocean in an open channel. Lava remains incandescent (glowing orange) throughout its journey. The ocean entry is at upper right.

Sluggish pāhoehoe briefly spills over a section the levee along the well-established lava channel. Such overflows generally travel short distances measured in meters (yards).

A temporary GPS station (with radio telemetry for continuous measurement) was installed this week on the Kīlauea caldera floor to track the ongoing subsidence of the summit area. The data will help to characterize the extent and rate of the subsidence.

Fissure 8 lava fountains reached as high as about 50 m (164 ft) during the past day.

Geologist makes early morning observations of the lava fountain and channelized flow at fissure 8 in Leilani Estates.

Fissure 8 vigor increased overnight June 18-19 with lava fountains reaching up to 60 m (200 ft). Spatter built up the cone to the east and into the channel.

The northern channel margin of the fissure 8 lava flow. Small hill in the distance is the site of our PGcam. Overflows from the channel can be seen producing shiny black to silver pahoehoeflows (incandescent red breakout visible in center of photo).

Fissure 8 cone, lava fountain, and channelized lava flow on the morning overflight - June 19 at about 6:10am HST. The lava channel is very full with many small overflows visible on the channel margins. Overflows are sluggish and move slowly downslope as they build up the levees.

Map as of 1:00 p.m. HST, June 19, 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.

Geology field crews on the ground near the Kīlauea's fissure 8 midday on June 19, 2018 observed a still-vigorous channelized lava flow being fed by lava fountains at the vent. Standing waves are visible within the channel. Cascades/rapids are visible near the base of the cone, which is an estimated 50 m (164 ft) high.

This animated GIF shows a sequence of radar amplitude images that were acquired by the Agenzia Spaziale Italiana CosmoSkyMed satellite system. The images illustrate changes to the caldera area of Kīlauea Volcano that occurred between May 5 and June 18 at about 6:00 a.m. HST.