Images

USGS scientists walk through a tern colony on the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge (MA). Here, these scientists are using ecogeomorphological models to predict how this refuge will be impacted by sea-level rise and how that will ultimately effect shorebirds.

Dr. Jim Kauahikaua, accompanied by his wife, Jeri Gertz (left), traveled to Washington, D.C., where he received the DOI Meritorious Service Award on May 5, 2015, in recognition of his scientific contributions in the field of volcano hazards and leadership of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory for the U.S. Geological Survey. USGS photo.

Piping plover chicks are well concealed in shallow nests on sandy beaches.

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the flow on June 30 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of July 7 is shown in red. The yellow line is the active lava tube. Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō lava flows erupted prior to June 27, 2014, are shown in gray.

This small-scale map shows Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow in relation to lower Puna. The area of the flow on June 30 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of July 7 is shown in red.

Is there volcanic activity on Venus? This artistic rendering shows how an erupting Venusian volcano might look. Image courtesy of the European Space Agency.

We collect terrestrial (barrier island) and marine (nearshore and estuarine) sediment cores to understand the history of barrier island formation and erosion.

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the flow on June 19 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of June 30 is shown in red. Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō lava flows erupted prior to June 27, 2014, are shown in gray.

Active pāhoehoe lava is scattered over a broad area northeast of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, but has not advanced significantly over the past month. Today, the farthest active lava was about 7.5 km (4.7 miles) from the vent on Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, with the leading tip of this breakout burning vegetation. Aerial view towards the southwest. Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō is in the upper left.

This map overlays a georeferenced thermal image mosaic onto the flow field change map to show the distribution of active and recently active breakouts. The thermal images were collected during a helicopter overflight of the flow field today (June 30). The June 27th flow is outlined in green to highlight the flow margin. The yellow line is the active lava tube.

A closer look at the upper June 27th flow field, where numerous breakouts were active. The active breakouts are visible as the light-colored areas near the bottom of the photo. In the lower right, the remains of Pu‘u Kahauale‘a can be seen. Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō is in the upper left.

A closer view of the one of the pāhoehoe breakouts near Pu‘u Kahauale‘a. The dark flakes on the surface are bits of crust from the underlying flow that get stuck to the front of the newer flow, and end up on the top surface as the nose of the new flow inflates.

A view of the southern portion of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater, where two small incandescent vents have been active recently.

A view of the breakouts active near Pu‘u Kahauale‘a.

This 1891 map shows much of the saddle between Mauna Kea (at top of map) and Mauna Loa. Lava flows depicted as black irregular shapes in the lower half of the map were erupted from Mauna Loa, with labeled ages ranging from "ancient" to 1881.

This satellite image was captured on Tuesday, June 23, 2015 by the Landsat 8 satellite. Although this is a false-color image, the color map has been chosen to mimic what the human eye would expect to see. Bright red pixels depict areas of very high temperatures and show active lava. White areas are clouds.

Earthquakes beneath Mauna Loa's summit prior to 1975 and 1984 eruptions. Green circles 0-5 km (0-3 mi) deep, red circles 5-10 km (3-10 mi) deep.

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the flow on June 4 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of June 19 is shown in red. Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō lava flows erupted prior to June 27, 2014, are shown in gray.

Scattered breakouts were active at the margins of the June 27th flow, with only minor expansion of the flow margins over the past two weeks. This photo shows an active breakout on the south margin of the June 27th flow, moving over older ‘A‘ā from Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō.

Scattered breakouts remain active northeast of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō on the June 27th lava flow, but have not advanced significantly over the past month. This photo shows the farthest reach of active lava on the flow field today, which was about 8 km (5 miles) northeast of the vent on Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. Minor brush fires were active where lava was entering forest.

This photograph shows the south margin of the June 27th flow, northeast of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, where many small scattered breakouts were active. The active, and recently active, breakouts are visible at the light gray areas.