Images

Lava, like this typical pāhoehoe flow on Nov. 12, 2015, continues to breakout northeast of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō (in background) on Kīlauea Volcano. Current activity is within about 6 km (4 mi) of the vent and poses no immediate threat to Puna communities.

During a kona wind, fume from Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō (foreground) and Halema‘uma‘u Crater (background), both on Kīlauea, blows northward, with towering Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea on the horizon. USGS photo.

The cover of USGS Professional Paper 1806, one of three recent books on Hawaiian volcanism. USGS photo.

A closer look at the breakout point where lava emerged from the tube on November 25. A few skylights provide views of the lava in the new lava tube that formed over the past week on this flow.

A very close view of the active pāhoehoe toes on the margin of the November 25 breakout. A fresh lava sample was collected from this spot with a rock hammer today. Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō is in the distance.

This small-scale map shows Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow in relation to the eastern part of the Island of Hawai‘i. The area of the flow on November 12 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as mapped on December 3 is shown in red. The yellow lines show the active lava tube system.

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the flow on November 12 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as mapped on December 3 is shown in red. Changes shown at near the east edge of the map extent reflect updated ground mapping, not new flows.

All that remains of Pu‘u Kahauale‘a can be seen in this photograph, with only the peaks of the formerly prominent forested cinder cone visible. This cone has been buried by lava from the June 27th flow over the past year. In the upper left a small hornito can be seen.

A few small vents are active in the southern portion of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater. These erupted a small flow onto the crater floor recently.

A fascinating cross section of a hornito was revealed recently, when a partial collapse provided a window into a portion of an abandoned lava tube. The void space behind the geologist was filled with lava at some point, with lava and gas forced through the narrow crack in the center of the photograph.

Scattered breakouts persist northeast of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, and the farthest reach of active breakouts today was 5.9 km (3.7 miles) from the vent on Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. A minor change on the flow field occurred last week, with a breakout from the tube on November 25 that created a small flow that remains active today.

This satellite image was captured on Monday, November 30, by the Advanced Land Imager instrument onboard NASA's Earth Observing 1 satellite. The image is provided courtesy of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Although this is a false-color image, the color map has been chosen to mimic what the human eye would expect to see.

Mount Fuji, or Fuji-san as the Japanese address the mountain, is 3,776 m (12,389 ft) tall and towers above the surrounding communities. USGS photo.

USGS geophysicist Jared Kluesner points at a three-dimensional cross-section of seismic data about 40 kilometers across and several kilometers deep located in the Santa Barbara Channel. This imaging deep below the seafloor allows scientists to visualize and map faults better.

Jared Kluesner displays a 3D view of seismic data collected off Santa Barbara. This visualization helps him analyze the Earth’s layers from the seafloor (rainbow-colored surface) to several kilometers below (slices extending down from the colored surface).

Scanning Electron Microscope image of resuspended volcanic ash from the 1912 Novarupta-Katmai deposits in the Katmai region, picked up during high winds on November 1, 2015 and carried to Larsen Bay on Kodiak Island, AK. Sample collected by Sherry Harmes of Larsen Bay.

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the flow on October 23 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as mapped on November 12 is shown in red. Not all changes at the northern edge of the flow in the forest were mapped due to poor weather and visibility.

This small-scale map shows Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow in relation to the eastern part of the Island of Hawai‘i. The area of the flow on October 23 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as mapped on November 12 is shown in red. The yellow lines show the active lava tube system.

A young ‘ōhi‘a tree with its red lehua blossoms grows near a steam vent on the solidified crust of the 1959 Kīlauea Iki lava lake in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. ‘Ōhi‘a trees thrive on volcanic landscapes ranging from sea level to 2440 m (8,000 ft) elevation and are among the first plants to grow on new lava flows.

Breakouts remain active northeast of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. Though heavy rains prevented a detailed survey today, there was little change in activity observed on today's overflight. As with previous weeks, most breakouts are active within the existing boundaries of the June 27th lava flow, with no major expansion of the flow margins.

On October 30, 2014, the front of Kīlauea Volcano's active lava flow stalled only about 155 m (170 yards) from Pāhoa Village Road (lower right corner).