It has been five years since the eruption began within Halema'uma'u Crater on the Big Island.

It has been five years of amazing video and pictures and five years of learning.

The March 19, 2008 eruption created a hole 115-feet-wide.  Since then, the crater is now nearly 700-feet-wide -- the size of 21 Olympic swimming pools.

Matthew Patrick, with the U.S. Geological Survey, says scientists have learned a lot about the connection between eruptions at Kilauea's summit and the east rift zone.

"We now have a window basically into the summit magmatic system so tracking the lava level, for instance, in the summit lake -- those levels correlate very well with lava levels at Pu'u O'o so these two eruptions are connected," said Patrick.

It's an amazing time to be a visitor in the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

"They can't directly see the lava level but they can see the upper portion of that vent cavity and real impressive glow from the crater," said Patrick.

At one point, the lava rose to within 72 feet of the vent.  It changes daily and we've been able to watch those changes through USGS cameras.  They allow us to see amazing photographs and videos right from our computer screens.

And then there are the thermal watt cameras.

Halema'uma'u 5-year eruption anniversary

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