Images

When Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō began to form in 1983, the ground surface on which it was built was at an elevation of about 720 m (~2,360 ft). The Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō cone eventually reached a height of 255 m (837 ft), putting its top at an elevation of about 975 m (~3,200 ft).

This large-scale map shows the June 27th lava flow in Kīlauea's East Rift Zone in relation to nearby Puna communities. The area of the flow on November 17, 2014, at 2:00 PM is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as mapped on November 24 at 12:00 PM is shown in red.

Although the downslope portion of the June 27th lava flow, near Pāhoa, is inactive, breakouts persist upslope near the ground crack system and well site. The lava has advanced a short distance downslope towards the north (towards the right side of the image), following the west margin of the existing June 27th lava flow.

This view looks downslope towards the east. The active breakout is burning vegetation along its margins, creating numerous small smoke plumes. Residential areas are visible in the upper portion of the photograph, with Pāhoa in the upper left.

A comparison of a normal photograph with a thermal image of the breakout active in the area of ground cracks. The white box shows the rough extent of the thermal image. The thermal image shows the location of active pāhoehoe lobes scattered over the area of the breakout, with activity slowly advancing downslope towards the north (right side of images).

This small-scale map shows the June 27th lava flow in Kīlauea's East Rift Zone in relation to lower Puna. The area of the flow on November 17, 2014, at 2:00 PM is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as mapped on November 24 at 12:00 PM is shown in red.

One of many small pāhoehoe toes and surface flows noted by HVO geologists this morning in the area near the crack system where lava partially filled, and flowed out of a crack, around September 6.

This satellite image was captured by the Advanced Land Imager instrument onboard NASA's Earth Observing 1 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.

Much of the active lava was covering the existing flow around the ground crack system, with small portions entering the forest at the flow margins. The activity in the forest triggered brush fires and frequent methane explosions.

Active breakouts of lava from the June 27th tube system were observed about 1.8 km (1.1 mi) downslope of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō (upper middle skyline) on November 17. The active lava, visible as shiny, light-gray flows, broke out of the tube near Pu‘u Kahauale‘a, the dark-colored, forested cone in front of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. USGS photo.

The farthest downslope breakouts today are still situated around the ground crack system, near the abandoned well site. The front of these breakouts was about 500 m (0.3 miles) northeast of the well site, and about 1.9 km (1.2 miles) west of Kaohe Homesteads. These breakouts were covering the existing flow and burning forest on its margins.

An HVO geologist examines a ground crack into which lava was pouring near the flow margin, producing large amounts of steam.

Smoke from burning vegetation marks the edges of small breakouts from the June 27th lava-tube system north of the abandoned geothermal well site (middle left). This was the lowermost breakout as of this morning, located approximately 12 km (7.5 mi) straight line distance from Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. Smoke and steam from breakouts upslope are also visible in the distance.

This small-scale map shows the June 27th lava flow in Kīlauea's East Rift Zone in relation to lower Puna. The area of the flow on November 14, 2014, at 1:40 PM is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as mapped on November 17 at 2:00 PM is shown in red.

In addition to the large breakout near Kahauale‘a shown above, there was a series of smaller breakouts that appeared over the past day just upslope of the ground crack system, and about 8 km (5 miles) downslope of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō.

A comparison of a normal photograph with a thermal image of the new breakout near Pu‘u Kahauale‘a. The breakout consists of two separate lobes, with the longer, and more active, one traveling northeast along the base of the 2007 perched lava channel.

View looking downhill toward the stalled tip of the flow and Pāhoa Village Road. The transfer station is visible in the left of photo with stalled lava just within the boundary. No active lava breakouts were observed in this lowest part of the flow and below the crack system.

A comparison of a photograph and a thermal image of an HVO geologist sampling lava from the leading tip of the new breakout that originated near Kahauale‘a. The recently active, but cooling portions of the flow (red and purple areas in upper left portion of image) have average surface temperatures around 300 C (572 F).

Active breakouts from tube system near Pu‘u Kahauale‘a approximately 1.8 km (1.1 mi) downslope of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. Photo is looking uprift, or toward the southwest. Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō is on the skyline in the middle of the photo.

Geologists survey the cross-sectional area of the lava tube using Very Low Frequency (VLF) measurements.

Thermal images from Friday (November 14) to Monday (November 17) show the decline in activity levels around the flow front over the weekend. While sluggish breakouts were observed near the cemetery in Pāhoa over the weekend, these breakouts are now inactive.