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Kahauale‘a 2 flow moving slowly through remote forest, spattering at Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō
The Kahauale‘a 2 lava flow remains active northeast of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, and is still moving slowly through thick forest. The active flows retreated a short amount over the past week due to a deflation-inflation cycle at the summit, with the farthest active flows today at about 7.5 km (4.7 miles) northeast of the vent on Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. These farthest active flows are evident by the smoke in the left hand portion of the photograph. The stalled flow front, in the foreground, is at 8.3 km (5.2 miles) from the vent.
Another view of the Kahauale‘a 2 flow front, with a normal photograph at the left and a corresponding thermal image on the right. The thermal image shows the distribution of active pāhoehoe lobes clearly, with active flows shown by the white colors. This image shows how the active flows have retreated a short distance back from the stalled flow front over the past week.
In Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater, a small lava pond (about 5 meters, or yards, wide) continued to be active and was still "gas pistoning" today. Gas pistoning is a cyclic rise and fall of the lava pond surface due to gas buildup and release. During the fall phase, intense spattering disrupts the lava pond surface and releases the accumulated gas. Each cycle lasted about five to ten minutes.
Continued lava lake activity in Halema‘uma‘u Crater
A closer view of the lava lake in the Overlook crater, within Halema‘uma‘u Crater at Kīlauea's summit. The lake is now about 160 m by 200 m (520 x 700 feet) in size. The lava rises to the surface in the northern part of the lake (right side in this photograph) and flows towards the south (left). Cracks around the Overlook crater rim (right side of photo) suggest that future collapses of the rim will occur at some point.
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