Surface lava flows on the coastal plain and pali died out over Labor Day weekend with summit deflation, and new breakouts appeared on Sunday, September 2, farther upslope with the resumption of summit inflation. The new breakouts, which are modest in size and vigor, are above the top of the pali, about 4 km (2.5 miles) southeast of Pu‘u ‘O‘o. Photo courtesy of USGS/HVO

This thermal camera view from the helicopter looks upslope (northwest), and shows the two main breakouts that are southeast of Pu‘u ‘O‘o. The western breakout was nearly stalled, and most of the activity was focused at the front of the eastern breakout. Both breakouts consisted of pahoehoe flows. Photo courtesy of USGS/HVO

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Time-lapse movie of Pu‘u ‘O‘o Crater

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

A view from the helicopter of the lava pond in the east collapse pit within Pu‘u ‘O‘o crater. The pit enlarged substantially last week as the lava pond dropped during a deflation phase. Though the lava level has risen since that time, it remains deep within the collapse pit. Photo courtesy of USGS/HVO

A lava lake within the Halema`uma`u Overlook vent produced night-time glow that was visible from the Jaggar Museum overlook and by HVO’s Webcam during the past week. Prolonged deflation and low lava levels early last week ended on Friday, August 31, with inflation and lava level rise. Occasional rise-fall cycles caused the lava level to rise slightly for periods of hours.

On Kilauea’s east rift zone, deflation resulted in the formation of a new collapse pit during the past week on the north edge of Pu`u `O`o’s crater floor almost directly below the webcam. In addition, diminishing lava flows on the coastal plain and pali had stagnated by Saturday, Sep 1. With the summit inflation over Labor Day weekend, breakouts reappeared on Sunday, Sep 2, farther upslope, about 4 km (2.5 miles) southeast of Pu`u `O`o. Lava levels within Pu`u `O`o rose with inflation, bringing lava in the northeastern pit within view of the webcams and filling the new northern pit.

No earthquakes were reported felt in the last week below the island of Hawai`i.

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

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This thermal camera view from the helicopter shows the current configuration of activity within Pu‘u ‘O‘o crater. The view is towards the east. The east pit has hosted an active, circulating lava pond for several months now. The south pit enlarged to its current size just last Thursday (Aug. 30), and has two pads of active lava within it. The north pit also formed on Thursday, and was rapidly filled with lava which is now cooled. For scale, Pu‘u ‘O‘o crater is about 250 m (820 feet) across (spanning the left to right edges of this image). Photo courtesy of USGS/HVO

Time-lapse thermal image movie of Halemaumau Overlook Vent