New Fissure at Kilauea Releases 80-foot-high Lava Spatter

By Wendy Osher

Photo of Kilauea Volcano courtesy USGS.

A new fissure opened at the east rift zone of the Kīlauea Volcano after Saturday’s collapse of the Pu`u `Ō `ō crater floor.  Officials with the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory say the event included spattering of lava up to 80 feet in the air.

The fissure or crack is located between Pu`u `Ō `ō and Napau Crater in a remote area of the Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park.

Live views of Kīlauea’s fissure eruption are now available via a Webcam installed by the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) over the weekend. The Webcam images, which are updated every five minutes, can be accessed at http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/hvo/cams/NCcam/.

Measurements made by scientists with the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory show the crater floor dropped at least 377 feet during Saturday’s collapse.