VIDEO & PHOTOS: Collapse Event at Summit, Lava Nears Boat Ramp

The U.S. Geological Survey released this video of a the collapse event at the summit and photos of the East Rift Zone on Tuesday, July 24, 2018.

A collapse event occurred at the summit of Kīlauea Tuesday, July 24, 2018, at 6:41 a.m., releasing energy equivalent to a magnitude-5.3 earthquake, which is similar to that released by previous collapse events.

In this video, watch as Tuesday’s event unfolds from the perspective of HVO’s live-stream camera. At 6:41:08 (time stamp at upper left), a small tree along the right margin of the video begins to sway. At 6:41:10, a pressure wave passes through the steam plume in the crater, and light is reflected back to the camera (highlights the passage of the expanding sound energy through the air. At 6:41:11, a rockfall begins on the South Sulphur Banks, a distant light-colored scarp on the left.

Kīlauea Lower East Rift Zone

Fissure 8 lava channel as viewed from HVO’s morning overflight on Tuesday, July 24, 2018. The robust volcanic gas plume in the far distance was rising from the Fissure 8 vent.

Lower East Rift Zone on July 24, 2018. Click to enlarge. PC: USGS

The ocean entry has expanded to the southwest through a series of lava “ooze-outs” from the southern flow margin that organized into an incipient channel.

Pohoiki is hidden by the laze, July 24, 2018. Click to enlarge. PC: USGS

As of this morning, the flow margin was in or at the edge of Isaac Hale Park, approximately 575 feet from the Pohoiki boat ramp. Unfortunately, the view was obscured by laze (the smaller plume below the larger laze plume) during the overflight.