Kilauea Volcano aerial video

Halemaumau Overlook Vent time-lapse movie.

This photograph shows the east rim of Pu‘u ‘O‘o crater. A collapsed spatter cone revealed a swiftly flowing stream of lava heading northeast, into the tube system that supplies the active flow field. The active flows today were 6 km (3.7 miles) southeast of Pu‘u ‘O‘o. Photo courtesy of USGS/HVO

(Activity updates are written by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.)

At the front of the active flow field, several narrow streams of lava were active, reflecting a relatively high level of activity Wednesday (Feb 8). Photo courtesy of USGS/HVO

A lava lake present within the Halema`uma`u Overlook vent during the past week resulted in night-time glow that was visible from the Jaggar Museum overlook. The lake, which is normally about 100–125 m (330–410 ft) below the floor of Halema`uma`u Crater and is visible by HVO’s Webcam, rose and fell slightly during the week in response to a series of large deflation-inflation cycles. On February 2 and 3, two large collapses of the vent crater wall triggered small explosions that threw spatter onto the rim of Halema`uma`u Crater.

On Kilauea’s east rift zone, surface lava flows were active in the upper part of the flow field, about 4.5–6 km (3–4 miles) southeast of Pu`u `O`o, over the past week. On Wednesday, February 8, these flows were 300 m (330 yards) from the northern boundary of the Royal Gardens subdivision. There are no active flows on the coastal plain, and there is no active ocean entry.

One earthquake beneath Hawai`i Island was reported felt this past week. A magnitude-2.7 earthquake occurred at 11:07 p.m., HST, on Wednesday, February 8, 2012, and was located 9 km (6 mi) southeast of Mauna Kea’s summit at a depth of 19 km (12 mi).

Visit the HVO Web site (http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov) for detailed Kilauea and Mauna Loa activity updates, recent volcano photos, recent earthquakes, and more; call (808) 967-8862 for a Kilauea summary; email questions to askHVO@usgs.gov

Map showing the extent of lava flows erupted during Kīlauea’s ongoing east rift zone eruption and labeled with the years in which they were active. Episodes 1–48b (1983–1986) are shown in dark gray; Episodes 48c–49 (1986–1992) are pale yellow; Episodes 50–53 and 55 (1992–2007) are tan; Episode 54 (1997) is yellow; Episode 58 (2007–2011) is pale orange; the episode 59 Kamoamoa eruption (March 2011) is at left in light reddish orange; and the episode 60 Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō overflows and flank breakout (Mar–August 2011) is orange. The currently active flow (episode 61) is shown as the two shades of red—pink is the extent of the flow from September 21, 2011, to January 26, 2012, and bright red marks flow expansion from January 26 to February 8. The active lava tube is delineated by the yellow line within the active flow field. The contour interval on Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō is 5 m. (Click on image above for larger view)