Watch the landscape of the Big Island Volcano change before your eyes at Hawaii Big Island Volcanoes National Park. Located about 30 miles southwest of Hilo town, this is the home of the Kilauea Volcano, one of the most active volcanoes on earth. The chance to witness the primal process of creation and destruction make the Big Island Volcano park one of the most popular visitor attraction's in Hawaii and a sacred place for Native Hawaiians too. Visiting the Big Island Volcano can be an all day adventure.

Thje Big Island Volcano park was founded in 1916, the Big Island Volcano Park encompasses 332,000 acres from the summit of Maunaloa to the sea. Here you'll find 151 miles of hiking trails through the Big Island Volcano craters, scalded deserts and rainforests as well as a museum, petroglyphs, a walk-in lava tube (Thurston) and two active volcanoes: Maunaloa, which last erupted in 1984 and Kilauea which has been erupting since January 3rd, 1983. The extraordinary natural diversity of the Big Island Volcano park was recognized in 1980 when it was named a World Biosphere site by UNESCO and in 1987 when the Big Island Volcano park was again honored as a World Heritage site.

Kilauea is sometimes called "the world's only drive-in volcano." This prolific volcano currently produces 260,000-651,000 cubic yards of lava per day, enough to resurface a 21-mile-long, two-lane road daily. As of January 1994, 492 acres of new land have been created on Hawaii's Big Island. The current eruption of the Big Island Volcano may last another 100 years or stop tomorrow. Pele, the volcano goddess who lives here, is very unpredictable. But the chance to watch Kilauea's blistering lava flows meet the sea is just one of the reasons to visit.

Update
KILAUEA (Big Island) VOLCANO
12/23/2011

Activity Summary for past 24 hours: The West Ka`ili`ili ocean entry continued to be weakly active fed by flows from Pu`u `O`o through the abandoned Royal Gardens subdivision and across the coastal plain. Glow could be seen from a source within Pu`u `O`o crater. Part of the vent wall collapsed into the summit lava lake yesterday afternoon. Seismic tremor levels were, otherwise, low and gas emissions were elevated.

Past 24 hours at Kilauea summit: The summit tilt network recorded continued inflation with a small, positive offset at the time of an unusually large rockfall described below. The summit GPS network recorded contraction during the last few days. The lava lake level remained stable until the southwest vent wall collapsed into the lake at 4:56 pm yesterday splashing lava over the inner ledge; the lava level then dropped but rose again and stabilized at a slightly higher level; fresh spatter was even ejected onto the floor of Halema`uma`u Crater. The wall collapse ejected an increased amount of ash-sized tephra dominated by fresh spatter that was wafted within the gas plume from the summit vent and deposited on nearby surfaces. The most recent (preliminary) sulfur dioxide emission rate measurement was 900 tonnes/day on December 20, 2011.

Seismic tremor levels were fairly stable with a strong spike at the time of the wall collapse described above followed immediately by a dramatic drop; tremor levels abruptly resumed their previous values at 1:30 am this morning. Six earthquakes were strong enough to be located beneath Kilauea volcano: one within the lower southwest rift zone, four on south flank faults, and one west of the summit area.

Background: The summit lava lake is deep within a ~150 m (500 ft) diameter cylindrical vent with nearly vertical sides inset within the east wall and floor of Halema`uma`u Crater. Its level fluctuates from about 70 m to more than 150 m (out of sight) below the floor of Halema`uma`u Crater. The vent has been mostly active since opening with a small explosive event on March 19, 2008. Most recently, the lava level of the lake has remained below an inner ledge (75 m or 250 ft below the floor of Halema`uma`u Crater) and responded to summit tilt changes with the lake receding during deflation and rising during inflation.

Past 24 hours at the middle east rift zone vents: Within Pu`u `O`o crater, glow could be seen from the small spatter cone on the east edge of Pu`u `O`o crater floor. The tiltmeter on the north flank of Pu`u `O`o recorded continued inflation. Seismic tremor levels near Pu`u `O`o were low. The most recent (preliminary) sulfur dioxide emission rate measurement was 500 tonnes/day on December 21, 2011, from all east rift zone sources.

Lava continued to enter the tube system on the east flank of Pu`u `O`o; the tube system turns to the southeast 0.5 km, and again at 2 km, downslope. Lava flows continued to be active through this morning down the pali, across coastal plain, and into the ocean at the West Ka`ili`ili lava delta within Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park (see map); the entry is generating a small, wispy plume when visible in our webcam.

HAZARD ALERT: Lava entering the ocean builds lava deltas. The lava delta and adjacent areas both inland and out to sea are some of the most hazardous areas on the flow field. Frequent delta/bench collapses give little warning, can produce hot rock falls inland and in the adjacent ocean, and can produce large local waves. The steam plume produced by lava entering the ocean contains fine lava fragments and an assortment of acid droplets that can be harmful to your health. The rapidly changing conditions near the ocean entry have been responsible for many injuries and a few deaths.

Background: The eruption in Kilauea's middle east rift zone started with a fissure eruption on January 3, 1983, and has continued since at Pu`u `O`o Cone, or from vents within a few kilometers to the east or west, with few interruptions. In early August, the Pu`u `O`o crater floor collapsed to a depth of about 75 m (245 ft) below the east rim of the crater as lava burst from vents on the lower west flank of the cone. A DI tilt event several days later cut off supply to Pu`u `O`o and the west flank vents; lava reappeared in Pu`u `O`o Crater on August 21st and filled it to overflowing. A fissure eruption on the upper southeast flank of Pu`u `O`o Cone on Sept. 21 drained the lava lakes and fed a lava flow advancing southeast. Since then, activity has waxed and waned with DI tilt variations with a lava tube feeding sustained but slow-moving pahoehoe flows to the southeast again through the abandoned Royal Gardens subdivision and to the ocean within Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park.