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The eruption in Halema‘uma‘u at Kīlauea's summit on the Island of Hawai‘i continues, with the west vent erupting lava into the lava lake. Gas emissions and seismic activity at the summit remain elevated. HVO field crews—equipped with specialized safety gear and PPE—monitor the current eruption from within the closed area&nbs
HVO scientists collect detailed data to assess hazards and understand how the eruption is evolving at Kīlauea's summit, all of which are shared with the National Park Service and emergency managers. Access to this hazardous area is by permission from, and in coordination with, Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park.
This telephoto image shows the west vent of the ongoing Halema‘uma‘u eruption at about 7:15 a.m. HST on January 14, 2021. Low lava fountaining from the vent cascades into the lava lake below. This morning, January 15, the active west side of the lava lake was approximately 199 m (653 ft) deep, while the western half remains stagnant and several meters (yards) lower. HVO scientists continue to monitor the eruption from within an area of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park that remains closed to the public for safety reasons. USGS photo by K. Lynn.
This sequence of four photos was taken from the south rim of Halema'uma'u looking to the northwest. It shows the brief (less than 20 minutes) changes in near-vent activity when a portion of the western vent spatter cone collapsed on January 13, 2021. The first photo was taken seconds after the collapse at 5:06 p.m., showing the main lava spillway. Three minutes later, at 5:09 p.m., a second vent to the east (right) sent a new lava stream down the side of the spatter cone. This ephemeral (short-lived) stream remained active until 5:25 p.m., with the waning stages shown in the bottom photos.Two hours before this short-term change, HVO scientists had observed a small glowing hole at the source point of the ephemeral lava flow. Occasionally, a small amount of spatter would be ejected from this area, although no spatter was observed from there in the hour before this ephemeral lava flow began.The three photos at 5:13 p.m., 5:25 p.m., and 5:27 p.m. show that lava from the brief flow created a small delta on the solidified rim of the lava lake.HVO scientists continue to monitor the eruption within an area of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park that remains closed to the public for safety reasons.USGS photos by N. Deligne.
The west vent within Halema‘uma‘u crater at Kīlauea's summit exhibited low fountaining from the west vent yesterday. The spatter continues to build a cone around the vent, which has partially collapsed several times in the past few days. On the left side of the lava channel a small river of remobilized agglutinated spatter flows down the side of the spatter cone. USGS photo taken by K. Lynn on January 14, 2021.
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