On Thursday, May 2, USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientist Ingrid Johanson will present an overview of Kilauea’s unprecedented lower East Rift Zone lava flow and summit collapses that occurred during the summer of 2018.
The talk begins at 7 p.m. in University Classroom Building Room 100 at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, located at 200 W. Kawili St. in Hilo.
The presentation is free and open to the public. No reservations are required.
In 2018, the largest flank eruption and caldera collapse in at least 200 years occurred on Kilauea Volcano. It began May 3, when a fissure erupted in the lower Puna District.
In all, 24 fissures eventually erupted along a 4.2-mile-long segment of Kilauea’s lower East Rift Zone. Fissure 8 became the dominant vent, erupting a voluminous lava flow that reached the ocean, destroying more than 700 structures along the way.
As magma drained from the summit reservoir to feed the lava flow, parts of Kilauea’s summit caldera collapsed, by more than 1600 feet in places, accompanied by dozens of earthquakes each day. In early August 2018, the summit subsidence and earthquakes abruptly ended, and the LERZ lava effusion declined until Sept. 5, when active lava was no longer observed at fissure 8.
Johanson not only will present an overview of last year’s eruption, she also will include information about how tilt data, GPS and satellite radar helped scientists understand what was happening and what the volcano is doing now.
For more information, email askHVO@usgs.gov.