Kilauea — USGS Summit Cam

This is the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory's primary monitoring camera looking into Halema'uma'u crater at the summit of Kilauea volcano. The view is the same one geologists and emergency managers rely on to track active eruption phases, lava lake levels, and crater floor changes in real time. When Kilauea is erupting — as it has periodically since 1983 — this camera shows the action. The summit caldera of Kilauea changed radically during the 2018 collapse event, when over 60 collapse explosions dropped the caldera floor by hundreds of feet. Subsequent eruptions have refilled portions of the floor with new lava. A water lake briefly formed in the deepened pit between 2019 and 2020 before being boiled away by a new eruption in December 2020. Since then, intermittent eruptions have continued to build the lava lake and pour fresh flows across the crater floor. Best viewing is at night during active eruptions, when lava glow illuminates the crater walls, the underside of the gas plume, and any active fountaining vents. During the day, the camera shows the geologic context — fresh black lava against the older, weathered crater walls — along with steam and sulfur dioxide plumes drifting downwind. Weather conditions at the summit (over 4,000 feet) change rapidly; fog, rain, and clear skies can alternate within an hour. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park surrounds the camera and offers viewing of the crater from designated overlooks during eruption phases, the Crater Rim Trail, the Thurston Lava Tube, the Chain of Craters Road descending toward the coast, and the Volcano Art Center. The Jaggar Museum was severely damaged in 2018 and is no longer accessible.