Halemaʻumaʻu crater

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A view of Halemaumau Crater at Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii
Halemaʻumaʻu crater sits within the larger Kilauea calera.
A view of Halemaumau Crater and Jaggar Museum at Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii
Jagger Museum sits on the center of the ridge above Halemaʻumaʻu crater. This view gives an idea of the scale.

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Earth Day.’ See more responses here.

My brother has been visiting from England and, a few days ago, we went down to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to check out the scene. The volcano’s last eruption ended in September 2023, and it’s been mostly quiet since then.

We arrived to find the volcano socked in with clouds, but the next morning the skies had lifted and we got some great views. We started at Uēkahuna, a viewing area next door to the Jaggar Museum. The viewing area used to be at the museum, but that was badly damaged during Kilauea’s 2018 eruption and is currently in the process of being removed.

Halemaʻumaʻu crater is a pit crater within the larger Kilauea caldera. By the end of that 2018 eruption, the crater floor had collapsed into a deep pit. A small lake formed at the bottom, but that was boiled away and covered in the next eruption. Subsequent eruptions have continued this process of filling the collapsed pit. I hadn’t been down to view this area for quite a while and I was surprised at how much had been filled in. The whole floor was easily visible from the many viewpoints around the caldera, and while there’s no active lava to be seen, there’s plenty of steam rising.

A view of volcanic cones in Halemaumau Crater at Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii
Volcanic cones, from the last eruption, on the floor of the crater.
A view of steam rising in Halemaumau Crater at Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii
Steam rises from cracks in the walls of Halemaʻumaʻu crater.

Ironically, yesterday I got an email from the U.S. Geological Survey announcing that ‘Increased seismicity over the past three weeks, indicates heightened activity. Updates will be provided daily while at a heightened state of unrest.’ In other words, watch this space!

For more information about Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, go to nps.gov/havo/.

A view of Halemaumau Crater at Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii
A view of Halemaʻumaʻu crater. On the left, the flat area with a white line on it, is a section of Crater Rim Drive that slid, intact, into the crater!

19 thoughts on “Halemaʻumaʻu crater”

    1. Graham Post author

      Mt. St. Helens was awesome. I hiked up to the rim once and it was a great sight, as was the drive to the mountain, with all the flattened trees.

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        1. Graham Post author

          Here in Hawaii, it’s somewhat predictable, in that the activity is centered over a hotspot in the earth’s crust. But the plate the islands form on is gradually moving to the northwest and once they move off the hotspot, the activity ends and the islands begin to erode until they disappear up near Russia!

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  6. Terri Webster Schrandt

    Wow, Graham, what amazing captures and how nice to take your brother to the crater. It’s not surprising the Jaggar museum was closed, what a shame, but the Earth moves whenever it feels like it and as you said updates are coming. Incidentally, the pic of me and Hans by the Kilauea Crater (in my post) in 2018 was just outside the front of the Jaggar Museum by the Ranger. Who knew we’d be standing in front of history?

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    1. Graham Post author

      I was so glad the weather cleared that morning and I was very happy with the new viewing area. Such great views. I recognized your photo. It was only another month or so later that everything changed there.

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  7. Pingback: Sunday Stills: Continuously Moved by the #Earth – Second Wind Leisure Perspectives

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