New Kilauea fissure eruption

Kilauea volcano showed some dramatic changes in behaviour yesterday when the crater floor of Pu'u O'o collapsed followed by a dramatic drop in the level of the lava lake at Kilauea's summit. This meant the lava had to be draining off somewhere and sure enough, shortly afterwards a fissure eruption began between the summit and Pu'u O'o. Some of the action was captured by the scientists at the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory:


USGS video of the fissure eruption, March 5th.

Not sure I would have been standing where that video was taken! There are plenty more pictures and videos of the current activity at the USGS HVO site and an update is posted each day on the activity. Also worth a look are the webcams the scientists have set up in the Volcano National Park.

PS. The BBC have also picked up on the story with a nice video.

PPS. Another amazing video from the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists. I've had to watch it over and over again just to pick up on all the stuff that's going on. There's another helicopter in the scene which helps to provide a scale.

PPPS. New picture courtesy of the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory: