Eruption at Summit Caught on Video

The U.S. Geological Survey has released these pictures and a video of the current activity on the East Rift Zone.

Aerial view of the active ocean entries at Kīlauea Volcano’s lower East Rift Zone captured during this morning’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory overflight. An ongoing hazard at the ocean entries is laze.

Blown by wind, this plume creates a noticeable downwind haze, known as “laze” (short for lava haze). Click to enlarge. (USGS Photo)

As hot lava boils cool seawater, a series of chemical and physical reactions create a mixture of condensed acidic steam, hydrochloric acid gas and tiny shards of volcanic glass. Laze is irritating to the lungs, eyes and skin.

Activity at fissure 6 this morning Friday, May 25, 2018.

Click to enlarge. (USGS Photo)

Lava fountains have built a small spatter cone (black mound) from which lava was spilling out onto the surface and flowing into a small pond (left of the cone).

View of a rising ash plume from Halema‘uma‘u, a crater at the summit of Kīlauea, late Thursday, May 24, 2018, as seen from the caldera rim near Volcano House.

USGS scientists are stationed at this vantage point to track the ongoing summit explosions. Click to enlarge. (USGS Photo)

This explosion at Kīlauea Volcano’s summit, which occurred just after 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 24, 2018, produced an ash cloud that rose to 10,000 feet above sea level.

Moderate trade winds were blowing to the southwest at the time, and light ash fell in downwind locations. Earthquakes in the summit area continue at a moderate rate, as does deflation of the summit region, both of which reflect the withdrawal of magma from the summit.