Images

Mar 7, 2014: A close-up of the lava pond in Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater, with snow-covered Mauna Kea in the distance.

This image was acquired by the Earth Observing 1 satellite's Advanced Land Imager sensor on February 2, and shows Kīlauea's summit and east rift zone. Although this is a false-color image, the color map has been chosen to mimic what the human eye would expect to see.

Preview image for video: This Quicktime video shows a time-lapse sequence spanning from dawn to dusk on Tuesday, January 28, using images collected by our webcam near the summit of Mauna Loa Volcano (13,680 ft above sea level).

Preview image for video: This Quicktime video shows a time-lapse sequence spanning from dawn to dusk on Tuesday, January 28, using images collected by our webcam near the summit of Mauna Loa Volcano (13,680 ft above sea level).

During the 1926 Mauna Loa eruption, an ‘a‘ā flow about 457 m (1500 ft) wide and 9 m (30 ft) high headed straight for the village of Ho‘ōpūloa on April 18, as shown here. By the next day, the lava flow had destroyed a dozen houses, a church, and the wharf, and had nearly obliterated the bay. 

During the first few hours of the Kamoamoa fissure eruption in March 2011, lava bubbled to the surface through a ground crack that propagated along Kīlauea Volcano's East Rift Zone. How it and other Hawaiian fissure eruptions work will be the topic of a talk at UH-Hilo on January 16, 2014.

Erupting vents on Mauna Loa's Northeast Rift Zone near Pu‘u‘Ula‘ula (Red Hill) on Mar. 25, 1984—just hours after the eruption began—sent massive ‘A‘ā lava flows moving toward Hilo at 4 miles per hour. By the time the eruption ended on April 15, lava flows had reached to within four miles of Hilo city limits. USGS photo.

It was remarkably clear during today's overflight of Kīlauea's east rift zone. This photo is taken from Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, and looks northwest. Mauna Kea is at the right, and Mauna Loa is at the left. In front of the summit of Mauna Loa, the degassing plume from the lava lake at Kīlauea's summit is rising vertically.

_{CSAV International Program participants from 2011 came from volcano observatories in the Philippines, Democratic Republic of Congo, Costa Rica, Mexico, El Salvador, Colombia, Comoros, and Indonesia.}

The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) and Jaggar Museum are located at the summit of Kīlauea Volcano, and are visible atop the cliff to the right, on the edge of Kīlauea Caldera. HVO is about 2 km (1.25 miles) north-northwest of the lava lake in Halema‘uma‘u, fuming (but not directly visible) at the left edge of the photo.

At 9:48 PM on Friday, August 23, 2013, a collapse of a piece of the wall above the lava lake in Halema`uma`u triggered a small explosion. The explosion bombarded the rim of Halema`uma`u around the old visitor overlook with molten gobs of spatter as big as dinner plates.

Lava enters ocean at Kupapa‘u Point, Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai‘i. Photographed with a telephoto lens, the safest way to view the interaction of lava and seawater on the edge of an active delta.

On Kīlauea's East Rift Zone, the Kahauale'a 2 flow advances slowly into the Puna Forest Reserve. The Kahauale`a 2 flow began in early May, 2013, on the north side of the rift.

The Kahauale‘a 2 flow remains active north of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, and has expanded a very minor amount into the forest, burning trees. The flow, which consists of slowly moving pāhoehoe, has widened but advanced little over the past two weeks.

Camera captures SO2 released from Kīlauea's summit vent. HVO scientist tests the network link between the instrument and the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

Camera captures SO₂ released from Kīlauea's summit vent. HVO scientist tests the network link between the instrument and the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

Do not be misguided by the risky actions of this person (upper right), who is standing on an active lava delta that could collapse without warning, amidst a plume of superheated steam, hydrochloric acid, and tiny particles of volcanic glass. To avoid these ocean entry hazards, HVO advises staying at least 400 m (one-quarter mile) from where lava enters the sea.

Pele's hair covers much of the ground in the area immediately downwind of the vent at Halema‘uma‘u Crater. Accumulations about a meter (yard) wide are found on the windward sides of the curbs in the Halema‘uma‘u parking lot, which is closed to the public because of the ongoing volcanic hazard (May 3, 2012).

An active lava lake is contained within the Overlook crater, within Halema‘uma‘u Crater at the summit of Kīlauea Volcano. The summit eruption began on March 19, 2008, and is now nearly five years old. The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and Jaggar Museum are visible as a small bump on the horizon in the upper right portion of the image.

Kīlauea Volcano's summit vent within Halema‘uma‘u Crater was more than 500 feet across in March 2013, five years after it opened.

Tephra falling from a lava fountain on September 6, 1983, helped build the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō cone, which eventually reached a maximum height of 255 m (835 ft) in 1986.