VIDEO: Collapsed Puʻu ʻŌʻō Vent on Hawai‘i Island

A quarter-mile-long line of steam fissures from the Puʻu ʻŌʻō vent to the west lead to a huge brownish red plume emanating from the vent itself, the result of the floor of the vent collapsing on Monday, April 30, 2018.

The Paradise Helicopters crew said the event sent red dust from the vent to the Pulama Pali. The crew reported that they saw only one glowing skylight downslope, and no active surface lava anywhere during their Tuesday, May 1, overflight that began at about 3 p.m..

On May 1 at 4:54 a.m., Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reported that a collapse of the Puʻu ʻŌʻō crater floor on the afternoon of April 30 on Kīlauea Volcano’s East Rift Zone has prompted increases in seismicity and deformation along a large section of the rift zone, with seismicity currently occurring as far east as Highway 130.

Following the collapse, HVO seismometers and tiltmeters recorded an increase in seismic activity and deformation from Kīlauea Volcano’s summit to an area about 6 to 10 miles downrift (east) of Puʻu ʻŌʻō.

The migration of seismicity and deformation downrift (east) of Puʻu ʻŌʻō cone following Monday’s collapse indicates that a large area along the East Rift Zone is potentially at risk for a new outbreak.

The crew is flying again this morning, Wednesday, May 2.

That video will be posted later today.