Images

Close view of rock hurled from the Overlook crater during an explosive event last evening. The rock broke apart on impact, and was about 60 cm (24 in) before it hit the ground. The location is a few hundred meters (yards) south of the Overlook crater at the Halema‘uma‘u parking lot.

Map shows the location of the lava flow spreading from fissure 17 as of 7:00 a.m. HST, May 16. The flow is following a path of steepest descent (blue line) south of a 1955 'a'ā flow. Shaded purple areas indicate lava flows erupted in 1840, 1955, 1960, and 2014-2015.

Ash from an explosive event at Halema‘uma‘u on May 15, 2018, was blown by trade winds to the southwest, where it fell from the plume and blanketed the Ka‘ū Desert landscape. Samples of this ash were collected for ash leachate analyses as part of the assessment of hazards from Kīlauea Volcano's eruption.

Graphic illustration of HVO, Kilauea, Mauna Loa used as banner on HVO website

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

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.

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.

Map as of 9:00 a.m. HST, May 13, shows the location of fissure 17, which opened this morning at approximately 4:30 a.m. HST. NOTE: This new fissure was initially referred to as fissure 18 in early reports, but that is incorrect (what was called fissure 17 yesterday did not erupt lava, so this morning's erupting fissure is actually 17).

At 2:00 p.m. HST. View of Fissure 17 looking makai (southward) from Hwy 132

Main map shows the location of fissure 16, as well as earlier fissures, lava flows, and steaming areas, as of 12:00 p.m. HST, May 12. Inset map shows fissures in Leilani Estates in the order they occurred since May 3. Shaded purple areas indicate lava flows erupted in 1840, 1955, 1960, and 2014-2015.

To help us understand what could happen at Kīlauea Volcano's summit, we look to past similar events, but this does not mean that future events will be exactly the same. This map shows the distribution of ballistics and tephra from the 1924 phreatic (steam-driven) explosions.

On the morning of May 9, 2018, a large rockfall in "Overlook crater" within Halema‘uma‘u at the summit of Kīlauea triggered a gas-driven explosion that sent an ash plume several thousand feet skyward. Phreatic (steam-driven) explosions can create larger ash plumes; the 1924 explosions sent ash plumes up to 20,000 feet high. USGS photo.

At 9:06 a.m. HST, 5/11/18, an ash plume rose from the Overlook crater at Kīlauea's summit. Similar to recent plumes, this event was likely caused by a rockfall from the crater's steep walls.

On May 10, 2018, Highway 130 (shown here) was newly cracked with steam coming up from the east side of the road due to the dike (tabular body of magma) that intruded Kīlauea's lower East Rift Zone. The two orange and white road markers are on slightly uplifted areas of the highway, which are about 100 m (330 ft) apart.

On the morning of May 9, 2018, a large rockfall in "Overlook crater" within Halema‘uma‘u at the summit of Kīlauea triggered a gas-driven explosion that sent an ash plume several thousand feet skyward. Phreatic (steam-driven) explosions can create larger ash plumes; the 1924 explosions sent ash plumes up to 20,000 feet high.

This map shows the locations of fissures and an ‘A‘ā flow erupted since May 3 in the order that they occurred in Leilani Estates as of 7:00 p.m. HST, May 8. The purple areas are lava flows erupted in 1840, 1955, 1960, and 2014-2015.