With thanks to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) for providing these images, we wanted to share some incredible shots from the newest Kilauea eruption. This new eruption started on Sunday, September 10th. The entire eruption is currently contained within Halema’uma’u crater which is inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on Hawaii’s Big Island.
Let’s start with this fountain of lava. Wow. At the initial eruption, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) geologists estimated the fountain heights reached over 130 feet or 40 meters. Since then, fountain heights have decreased to approximately 32-50 feet or 10 – 15 meters, which is still quite impressive.
In this next shot, you can almost feel the heat radiating from the lava. Notice the fountain on the right side has a spatter cone forming around it.
In this next shot, we see brave HVO geologists gathering a sample of the lava to test. Note that they are wearing highly specialized protective equipment.
This person is way more brave than I would be.
Finally, this aerial view shows the entire eruption at Halema’uma’u caldera. Experts estimate the eruptive area spans approximately 0.8 miles or 1.3 kilometers. Since the eruption, HVO estimates an addition 8 feet or 2.5 meters of new lava depth has been added to the crater floor.
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Sheila Beal
