Images

Lava spattering area from an area between fissures 16 and 20 photographed at 8:20 a.m. today.

Same area between fissures 16 and 20 at 8:33 a.m. By the time geologists reached the site on foot, the spattering had died down and they were only hearing gas rushing sounds.

View uprift from the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory overflight this morning at 8:25 a.m. Note sulfur dioxide plumes rising from the fissures along the rift and accumulating in the cloud deck. Winds are calm today.

Activity at Halema‘uma‘u crater increased this morning to include the nearly continuous emission of ash with intermittent stronger pulses that form occasional higher plumes 1-2 kilometers (3,000 to 6,000 feet

Incandescence observed at Fissure 14 around 10:30 a.m. HST. Pulsing, gas-rushing sounds could be heard coming from the crack. Yellow sulfur deposits appear on the crack margins.

At 1:38 p.m. HST, ash falls from the plume southwest from Halema‘uma‘u crater onto the Kau desert. The northeast tradewinds were persistent today at the summit of Kīlauea Volcano, so ash was only blown southwest.

Ash plume viewed from the Volcano Golf Course near Volcano, Hawai‘i. This view is nearly due north of the Halema‘uma‘u crater.

Highly viscous (sticky) lava oozes from the edge of the ‘a‘ā flow spreading slowly from fissure 17.

At 11:43 HST, Civil Air Patrol flight CAP20 reported plume tops at about 9,500 ft with the dispersed plume rising as high as 11,000 ft.

At 11:05 a.m. HST. Photograph from the Jaggar Museum, Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park, captures an ash plume rising from the Overlook crater. Ash falling from the plume can be seen just to the right side (and below) the plume.

At 1:38 p.m. HST, another dark ash plume rose from the Overlook crater. During a flight earlier today by the Civil Air Patrol, the height of the ash plumes near the crater rose to more than 3 km (9,800 ft) above sea level, and downwind the plumes continued to rise to about 3.5 km (11,500 ft) above sea level.

At 1:38 p.m. HST. A telephoto photo from the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory looking toward the southwest shows gray ash blanketing the Kau Desert landscape.

Map as of 6:45 a.m. HST, May 15, shows the location of the 'a'ā lava flow spreading from fissure 17; the flow front at the time is shown by the small red circle with label. The flow is following well a path of steepest descent (blue line), immediately south of the 1955 'a'ā flow boundary.

Activity at Halema‘uma‘u crater increased this morning to include the nearly continuous emission of ash with intermittent stronger pulses that form occasional higher plumes 1-2 kilometers (3,000 to 6,000 feet) above the ground. This photo shows the ash plume at about 9 a.m. HST.

A voluminous and ash-laden plume could be seen this morning from the Volcano Golf Course in Volcano, Hawaii. This view is nearly due north of the Halema‘uma‘u plume.

At 11:43 HST, Civil Air Patrol flight CAP20 reported plume tops at 9,500' with the dispersed plume up to 11,000'. The CAP mission was launched from Hilo in support of Hawai'i County Civil Defense and USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory response to the ongoing eruption. Ashfall from this plume has been reported falling on communities downwind.

Incandescence observed at Fissure 14 around 10:30 AM May 15. Pulsing gas rushing sounds could be heard coming from the crack. Yellow sulfur deposits appear on the crack margins.

Toothpaste lava oozes out from the stalled northeast lobe of the Fissure 17 flow.

At 8:44 a.m., HST. Aerial view of the active ‘a‘ā flow spreading from fissure 17 (the fissure's low lava fountains can be seen in middle of photo). Highway 132 can be seen on right side of photograph. View is toward the west.

7:00 a.m., HST. An early morning view of fissure 17, still erupting and supplying lava to a flow that was still advancing (out of view). View is looking toward the east.

Around 2:30 p.m. HST, a steam jet appears on fissure 17, above the area with active fountaining. Steam jets at this location were repeating about once a minute.