Videos

The level of the lava lake sometimes changes abruptly. These cycles of rise and fall, which amount to a vertical change of around 15 m (about 50 ft), are occasionally triggered by rockfalls. Here, a small collapse from the vent wall triggers degassing and a drop in the lava level.

As the spattering shown in the previous video intensifies, the walls of the vent heat even more, causing the cracking of the rocks through thermal expansion to speed up, creating the cacophony of popping noises apparent in this video.

Time-lapse movie showing lava erupting from vents on the floor of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater. Each frame is a composite of eight images comprising a panorama of the crater that is captured every five minutes. During daylight hours, the camera switches to an IR mode so that eruptive activity is easier to monitor.

Another series of collapses occurred within Kīlauea's summit vent on the floor of Halema‘uma‘u before sunrise on February 15. This movie shows the first of the rockfalls and the resulting small explosive event.

Movie of lava flows in Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater from February 6-8. Lava has been erupting sporadically from three vents within Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater-a cone on the west side of the crater floor (foreground to left), a cone on the northeast side (center frame), and from an opening on the east crater wall (background).

Movie of the January 21 collapse and dusty plume captured by a Webcam located in the observation tower at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

Movie of the January 17 collapse and explosive eruption captured by a Webcam located in the observation tower at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

Movie of the January 17 collapse and explosive eruption captured by a Webcam located on the rim of Halema‘uma‘u directly above the erupting vent.

movie shows a channelized flow that broke out of the lava tube early this morning at the base of the pali, west of Kalapana. Even after traveling through the lava tube system for almost 10 kilometers (about 6.2 miles), the lava is sufficiently hot to be extremely fluid, and moves swiftly downslope. For scale, the channel is about 2 meters (about 2 yards) wide.

movie shows the flow that began erupting in Pu`u `Ō `ō crater this morning. The primary vent for the flow was producing small pulsating spattering that had built a small rampart on its south side. The final portion of the video is shown at x10 speed with a wide view, and shows how the spattering vent is supplying the flow.

movie captures a short period of successive littoral explosions at the Puhi-o-Kalaikini ocean entry, where lava exiting the tube enters the water. The explosions were throwing ejecta up to about 20 meters. The video was taken with a high zoom factor from the top of the sea cliff, well away from the entry point and not on the lava delta.

The lava lake deep within the vent cavity at Halema`uma`u crater remains active, with ongoing degassing and circulation of lava. This Quicktime movie shows the view in the vent today with a thermal camera, and the video is set at x4 speed to better show the slowly moving lava surface.

movie shows video taken during today's field visit and overflight. The first portion of the video is taken at the rim of Pu`u `Ō `ō crater, and shows the north vent feeding the lava pond. The lava surface undulates due to rising gas bubbles, and a small overturn is triggered.

movie shows the active lava pond within Pu`u `Ō `ō crater, imaged with a thermal camera. The video is shown at x60 speed, and covers about 25 minutes. Lava is being supplied to the crater from two vents, one visible in the upper right corner of the image and one out of view in the lower left.

video from a thermal camera looking into the vent cavity at Halema`uma`u around 3pm today. The video is shown at x4 speed. At the beginning of the clip, the lava level is at a high stand, with slowly migrating crustal plates and little spattering. Eventually, small scale spattering begins in the northeast corner of the pond, accompanied by vigorous degassing.

movie shows the lava surface deep within the Halema`uma`u vent cavity, captured with a thermal camera that can see through the thick fume. The lava surface is about 70 meters (230 ft) wide, and remains about 200 meters (660 ft) below the cavity rim. The surface is mostly crusted, with a slow migration from north to south.

movie shows the active lava pond deep within the Halema`uma`u vent cavity. The lava is upwelling at the northern margin of the pond (the upper margin in this view), and slowly migrating south towards the bottom of the image, where it sinks out of view. The pond is about 50 m wide. Small spattering sources appear and disappear occasionally.

movie shows video collected with a thermal camera during two helicopter overflights of the Halema`uma`u vent. The high vantage point allowed a view of the entire floor of the vent cavity, which is not possible from the ground. Also, the thermal camera can "see" through the thick fume that normally obscures the vent to the naked eye.

movie shows a draining event in the lava pond within the Halema`uma`u vent cavity. The lava column exhibited cycles of filling and draining of the vent cavity, with each cycle lasting a few minutes. As the pond drains, lava cascades into a small hole on the east side (right) of the cavity floor.

Lava within the vent cavity in Halema`uma`u crater continues to be active, and occasionally displays remarkable filling and draining cycles. This Quicktime movie shows the draining portion of one of these cycles, captured in "nightshot" mode in order to see through the thick fume.

movie (at x2 speed) shows a small explosive event in the Halema`uma`u vent at 9:20am. The explosion was immediately preceded by a portion of the vent rim collapsing into the vent cavity. The brown plume rises rapidly from the vent, and in the full resolution video large particles can be seen ejected in front of the plume.