Kilauea — MUcam Mauna Ulu

This USGS camera (MU) overlooks the Mauna Ulu area on Kīlauea's East Rift Zone, Hawaii Island — the site of a landmark eruption that ran from 1969 to 1974 and reshaped this part of the volcano. Mauna Ulu ("growing mountain") built a new lava shield, sent flows all the way to the ocean, and was one of the longest and most-studied rift-zone eruptions of the twentieth century, advancing scientists' understanding of how Hawaiian volcanoes work. The camera shows the rift-zone landscape of old lava shields, cooled flows, and revegetating terrain along the volcano's flank. While Mauna Ulu is not currently active, the East Rift Zone is where much of Kīlauea's eruptive activity has historically occurred, including the long-lived Puʻu ʻŌʻō eruption nearby. Conditions along the rift change with elevation and the trade winds, ranging from clear to misty and vog-laden. Hawaii does not observe daylight saving. Part of the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory's monitoring array within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, the feed watches a stretch of rift that scientists keep under close observation. The Mauna Ulu trail crosses this dramatic landscape of hardened lava and offers a tangible record of the 1969–74 eruption.