Images

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.

At 2:30 p.m. HST, the flow front of Fissure 17 continues down slope. The barren, brown area to the right in the photograph is a lobe of the Kii Flow from the eruption of 1955. The Fissure 17 flow front is located approximately .7 miles makai of Highway 132 and is 1.4 miles mauka of Hwy 137.

At 2:54 p.m., HST. Aerial photo of the fissures and associated plumes. This view is toward the east. 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.

This thermal map shows the fissure system during an overflight of the area this afternoon (the western part of the thermal map, in Leilani Estates, was based on a May 9 overflight, and fissure activity in that region has not changed since that time). Fissure 17 was producing a lava flow extending about 1.7 km (1.1 miles) from the fissure.

Aerial view of fissure 17 around 4:30 p.m. HST. On the west end of the flow, intermittent percussive jetting threw spatter and lava bombs up to 500 feet above the ground. East margin of the ‘A‘ā flow was cascading into a pit or graben.

At 2:56 p.m. HST. Aerial photo of fumes from fissures and an active ‘A‘ā flow, blown southward during tradewind conditions. This view is looking toward the west. Photo courtesy of Civil Air Patrol (CAP).

At 8:00 a.m. HST. A slow sticky a'a flow emerges from a new fissure just over a half mile northeast of the end of Hinalo Street. The new fissure - fissure 17 - is about one half mile south of Hwy 132. Some reports have referred to this fissure as number 18 but that is not correct. Fissure 18 had not erupted by this time.

At 10:31 a.m. HST. Cracks on Hwy 132 marked with orange spray paint to track changes through time.

At 2:00 p.m. HST. This photo reveals a small pad of lava between Fissures 16 and 17 which did not appear in photos of the same scene taken this morning. (Red arrow points to the lava pad.) From the photo it appears that this fissure had stagnated. We have designated this small outbreak as Fissure 18.

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

5/12/18, 08:27 a.m. HST - An aerial view of fissure 16, located about 1.3 km (0.8 miles) northeast of fissure 15 (top left). The fissure is located 500 m northeast of the Puna Geothermal Venture site (top right). Photograph courtesy of Hawai`i County Fire Department.