Kilauea Volcano 2018 vs 2020

Got out on the road early for a day trip to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. We were last on Kilauea just the week prior to when the 2018 eruption kicked into high gear. 

THEN

We had never snorkeled the famous Kapoho tide pools so we specifically chose to spend a week in Kapoho so there would be time enough. We were traveling with friends from Italy and our house was about an hour drive from the summit of Kilauea. The lava activity had changed pretty dramatically not long before we arrived on island. Previously lava had been oozing and running on the lower slopes of Kilauea. Live flow was within hiking distance (Jeff and Leo did a hike and saw some lava but pretty sluggish). But that activity was fast waning because somewhere underground the exit route to the lower slopes had gotten blocked up. At the summit inside Kilauea Caldera there is Halema’uma’u Crater. Inside that crater there has been a very deep circular vent for many years. Sometimes the lava in the vent would rise and we had been lucky enough once to be able to see some of the spatter as it cleared the top of the vent. But in late April 2018 the entire vent had filled and even overflowed several times across the floor of Halema’uma’u Crater. Bubbling lava - and lots of it - was clearly visible. We went up to the Jaggar Museum at the summit to watch four times over the course of a week.

We were no longer on Hawai’i when the lava found/created an outlet on May 3, 2018. By May 27th there had been 24 separate fissures erupting (some very briefly and producing various amounts of lava). Eventually fissure eight took center stage and poured out lava for three months. The Kilauea eruption which had been continuous since January 3, 1983 ended September 4, 2018. 600 homes were lost, 13.7 square miles of land had been covered by lava flows, about 875 acres of new land was added to the Island.

NOW

The house and neighborhood we stayed in no longer exist. The tidepools, nearby Green Lake, and Kapoho Bay (eight miles from Fissure Eight) are also gone. Jaggar Museum is permanently closed. Fissure Eight is now named Ahu’aila’au (refers to an altar to the volcano deity ‘Aila‘au). 

After the lava drained away to Ahu’alia’au from the vent in Halema’uma’u Crater the sides of the vent began to collapse. And collapse. And the vent expanded and more collapse... And circular ground cracks started appearing outside of the crater including on the terrace at Jaggar Museum. 

Here are some photos from the internet (for comparison) and from our trip to Kilauea and Kapoho.

Jaggar Museum (circled) and the Crater Overlook (red arrow) are on the rim of Kilauea Caldera. The circular pit is Halema’uma’u Crater. The smoking area is the vent which was still quite small in 2008. It grew over the years as lava rose and fell - when lava retreated the sides of the vent became unstable and collapsed into the vent. Note how far Jaggar is from Halema’uma’u.

Jeff and Laura at Jaggar Museum late April 2018.

Late 2018. Lava is close to the rim of the vent. And the vent is clearly bigger than the 2008 photo.

NPS has erased Jaggar Museum but green arrow shows where it is.

Didn’t take long for the crater to collapse. It’s so deep you can’t see the bottom from the Crater Overlook which makes it challenging to really comprehend how big it is now.

Looking at Halema’uma’u Crater from the rim of Kilauea Caldera.

Panoramic shot from a different spot on the rim of Kilauea Caldera. Mauna Loa is the blue/grey shape in the background. Jaggar Museum on the rim of Kilauea Caldera is just about straight across in the middle of this photo.

Red X is “Four Corners” where the highway ends today (3 miles were redone in 2019). Blue arrow is roughly where we stayed.

Photo taken at Four Corners.

Serena in the lava field at Four Corners.

Lava at Four Corners

Iridescent lava

View of Mauna Kea summit from Kilauea.

Looking at Mauna Loa above and behind Kilauea Caldera.

Back of the Kilauea Iki (little Kilauea) cinder cone. Kilauea Iki erupted in 1959.

Various shades/ages of lava on southern slope of Mauna Loa.

Fair is fair - With this 2018 photo of Leonardo on the Kohala coast of Hawai’i everyone who was part of that trip is included in this 2020 post.