Left: The Kahaualeʻa 2 flow is fed from a spatter cone, shown here, on the northeast edge of Puʻu ʻŌʻō's crater floor. The spatter cone is about 8 m (26 ft) high. Right: The Kahaualeʻa 2 flow extends to the north and northeast of Puʻu ʻŌʻō. From the edge of the flow, where it first reaches the forest, Puʻu ʻŌʻō still appears to tower above the surrounding plain.

Left: Active breakouts on the Kahaualeʻa 2 are scattered over a broad area. Here, a breakout near the edge of the forest engulfs trees and burns dead foliage. Right: This beautiful bubble of glass, about the size of an small orange, adorns the surface of a breakout on the Kahaualeʻa 2 flow. Note the delicate bubble walls stretched so thin that they grade from the color of honey to transparent.

The lava lake in Halemaʻumaʻu has fallen slightly over the past few weeks. It is now about 55 m (180 ft) below the surrounding crater floor.

The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and Jaggar Museum are located near the summit of Kīlauea and are visible atop the cliff to the right. They are about 2 km (1.25 miles) north-northwest of the lava lake in Halemaʻumaʻu, fuming (but not directly visible) at the left edge of the photo.

Left: Early morning view of Puʻu ʻŌʻō, looking toward the southwest. The fume rising from the bottom of the photo marks the trace of the lava tube carrying lava to the Kahaualeʻa 2 flow front. Right: The Kahaualeʻa 2 flow is fed from a spatter cone on the northeast edge of Puʻu ʻŌʻō’s crater. Today, this spatter cone, which is about 6 m (20 ft) tall, was weakly spattering from it top.

Left: At 9:48 PM on Friday, August 23, a collapse of a piece of the wall above the lava lake in Halemaʻumaʻu triggered a small explosion. The explosion bombarded the rim of Halemaʻumaʻu around the old visitor overlook with molten gobs of spatter as big as dinner plates. Dense lithic fragments from the collapsed wall, and at least as large as a baseball, were also thrown back out of the vent and onto the rim. These images were recorded by a webcam positioned on the rim of Halemaʻumaʻu, about 120 m (395 ft) above the lake surface. The smaller time-stamp at the upper left corner is the correct acquisition time (the larger time-stamp is based on the camera clock, which drifts over time). Right:

Left: The ocean entry east of the National Park boundary near Kupapaʻu Point remains weak, with a wispy plume, as seen in this photo looking southwest along the coast. Right: The main entry point of the Kupapaʻu ocean entry comprises a few small streams of lava, seen here cascading into the water.

The Kahaualeʻa 2 flow continues to invade the forest line north of Puʻu ʻŌʻō. Poor weather prevented good views but made for an eerie scene.

The lava lake in Halemaʻumaʻu was 35 m (115 ft) below the floor of the crater this morning. The lake is about 220 m (720 ft) long and 160 m (525 ft) wide.

Left: A thin gas plume permitted a decent view of the south wall of the pit holding the lava lake in Halemaʻumaʻu. This wall is overhung by up to 15 m. Today the lava lake was not spattering at its usual point near the left side of the lake in this view. Right: Instead, the lava lake was spattering at points on the west and northwest side of the lake. This photo shows the spattering on the lake's northwest side. The pit wall to the right overhangs the lake by about 10 m (33 ft). If the lake continues to rise, pieces of this overhang may collapse (note the cracks at lower right marking planes of weakness).

This image was captured on Friday, August 9, by the Advanced Land Imager sensor aboard NASA's Earth Observing 1 satellite, and shows Kīlauea volcano from the summit down the east rift zone. Although this is a false-color image, the color map has been chosen to mimic what the human eye would expect to see. Bright red pixels depict areas of very high temperatures, and show active lava. Two areas are active on Kīlauea. At the summit, a circulating lava lake in Halemaʻumaʻu crater produces the bright pixels at the left edge of the image. Along the east rift zone, the ongoing Puʻu ʻŌʻō eruption is now feeding two lava flows. The Peace Day flow has active surface flows on the coastal plain and an active ocean entry, just west of Kalapana village, while the Kahaualeʻa 2 flow is active at the forest boundary north of Puʻu ʻŌʻō. Satellite images such as this help fill in observational gaps between field visits.

Using a telephoto camera lens, an HVO scientist captured this view of the Kupapaʻu Point ocean entry on the morning of August 7. Although no lava flow activity was observed on the coastal plain near the ocean entry, small streams of lava still poured into the sea.

Zooming his camera in even more.... An up-close view of the easternmost lava streams entering the ocean. Reminder to all lava observers: Peering through a telephoto lens is the safest way to view Kīlauea Volcano's ocean entry.

The ocean entry at Kupapaʻu Point remains active, with several lava steams entering the water creating a moderate plume.

Several birds take a closer view of the ocean entry. Narrow streams of lava were battered by the surf as they poured into the water.

The Kahaualeʻa 2 flow remains active north of Puʻu ʻŌʻō, and has expanded a very minor amount into the forest, burning trees. The flow, which consists of slowly moving pāhoehoe, has widened but advanced little over the past two weeks.

Left: A wider view of a portion of the Kahaualeʻa 2 flow margin at the forest boundary. Right: The Kahaualeʻa 2 flow, which is active north of Puʻu ʻŌʻō, is fed from a vent at this cone on the northeast rim of Puʻu ʻŌʻō crater. Small openings at the top of the cone contain sloshing lava, and two skylights at the very start of the Kahaualeʻa 2 lava tube provided views of a swiftly moving lava stream rushing downslope.

This thermal image shows the eastern ocean entry at Kupapaʻu Point. Just inland from the entry point a patch of slightly warmer temperatures indicates an area of recent small breakouts. Inland from this warm patch you can see a narrow line of elevated temperatures that traces the path of the lava tube beneath the surface that is supplying lava to this ocean entry. Two plumes of high temperature water spread out from the entry point.

Two ocean entry points remain active near Kupapaʻu Point, near the boundary of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. The eastern entry has produced a larger plume than that at the western entry, which tends to be weak and wispy. Today several small breakouts were active just inland of the eastern entry point, creating a narrow cascade of lava pouring down the sea cliff.

Left: This photo looks south towards Puʻu ʻŌʻō, where a vent is supplying lava to the Kahaualeʻa II flow, north of the cone. This slow-moving flow has reached the forest line, producing small scattered brush fires. Right: A close-up of the Kahaualeʻa II flow burning vegetation at the forest line, just north of Puʻu ʻŌʻō. The flow consists of numerous slow-moving pāhoehoe lobes.

The summit eruption in Halemaʻumaʻu crater remains active. The lava lake is within the Overlook crater (the source of the gas plume), which is in the southeast portion of Halemaʻumaʻu Crater.

The Kahauale`a II flow began as a breakout on the east rim of Puʻu ʻŌʻō crater on May 6, and has advanced northward towards the forest. Today, slowly moving pāhoehoe lobes (light colored flows in this image) were burning moss and lichen on older Puʻu ʻŌʻō ʻaʻā flows and approaching the forest boundary. Puʻu ʻŌʻō cone is obscured by thick clouds in this photo.

Left: HVO geologists use a laser rangefinder to measure the height of the shield and cone built up around the northeast lava lake, on the east rim of Puʻu ʻŌʻō crater. The peak of the cone is now about 18 m (60 ft) above the former crater rim. Right: The spatter cone near the north rim of Puʻu ʻŌʻō crater continues to produce pulsating gas jetting sounds. Compare this photo to one taken of the same cone on May 2 to see how much taller the cone has grown.

The small lava lake on the northeast rim of Puʻu ʻŌʻō crater has been built into a small cone, with only a few small openings at the top. One of these small openings had sloshing lava near the surface.

Why did the lava tube cross the road? This image shows the Peace Day lava tube coming down the pali in Royal Gardens subdivision. The lava tube parallels Ali`i avenue, shown by the straight line of warm temperatures that represent asphalt heated in the sun. At the intersection of Ali`i avenue and Paradise street, the lava tube makes a sharp turn west and crosses the intersection, and then turns sharply again downslope (towards the right side of the image). This tube feeds lava to the ocean entry and breakouts on the coastal plain. There is no active lava on the surface in this image - the warm surface temperatures are due to heating by the underlying lava tube. Thermal images such as this help HVO geologists map the lava tube system.