Images

A volcano monitoring “spider” was deployed by helicopter to the Oso landslide to track ground movement and seismicity while search-and-rescue operations were ongoing.  The spider was equipped with a seismometer (mounted on the far left leg) to track ground shaking and GPS (a dome-shaped instrument on the upper mast) to track subtle ground movement.

A site where volcanoes used to be active in the Chinati Mountains near Presidio, Texas. 

The lava lake remains active in the Overlook crater, which is nested within the larger Halema‘uma‘u Crater. The Overlook crater today was filled with thick fume, making visual observations of the lava lake difficult.

A lone time-lapse camera, perched on a mound of solidified lava spatter, withstands thick volcanic fume and brutal weather to provide a record of lava pond activity in the northeast portion of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater. This spot is also the vent area for the Kahauale‘a 2 lava flow.

Kawah Ijen, a hot, acidic crater lake in East Java, Indonesia, with active gas release around its shoreline, will be the location of a September 2014 workshop studying "wet volcanoes." This view looks toward the northwest in December 2013. Photo credit: Okkisafire, Wikimedia Commons, January 2014.

As of 7:00 a.m. HST, July 25, 2018, the lava flow margins had not expanded since the previous map, so no red areas (indicating expansion) appear on this map.

A closer view of the Kahauale‘a 2 flow front. The leading tip of the flow, inactive today, is in the upper right portion of the photograph. The small smoke plume is caused by active breakouts on the flow margin.

Another look at the margin of the Kahauale‘a 2 flow. Small vegetation fires triggered by the active lava spread a short distance out from the flow margin.

Another view of the Overlook crater, comparing the visual photograph with a thermal image taken from a similar position. The thermal camera can "see" through thick fume, providing an unobstructed view of the crater and lava lake.

The Kahauale‘a 2 flow, which began just over a year ago, remains active northeast of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. Activity on the flow seems to have diminished slightly over the past two weeks, following deflation at the summit.

On the left, a normal photograph shows the front of the Kahauale‘a 2 flow. On the right, a thermal image shows a similar angle but in the infrared. Warm, but inactive, portions of the flow are shown by the purple and red colors, while the white and yellow areas shows active breakouts.

A near-vertical look at the margin of the Kahauale‘a 2 flow. Numerous trees surrounded by the slowly moving pāhoehoe lava were burned through at their base, causing them to eventually fall over onto the flow itself.

Smoke from the Slide fire, a major wildfire near Flagstaff, Arizona, is apparent in this hemispheric, natural-color image of sky conditions.  The image was acquired at the USGS Flagstaff Science Campus at 3:00 p.m.

Oso Landslide

New flows on the floor of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater over the past few weeks threatened cameras positioned on the crater's north rim. Two cameras—a thermal camera observing the crater and a regular webcam observing the active Kahauale‘a 2 flow in the distance—were moved to a safer location partway up the steep northwestern flank of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō cone.

A lava flow fed from a spatter cone on the south part of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō's crater floor (the South spatter cone) continues to advance toward the east-southeast, and is about 700 m from its vent. The flow is the silvery lava that crosses the center of the photo.

The flow from the South spatter cone has buried part of the southern flank of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō cone, leaving little of the original tephra that composes the cone visible. Compare this photo to the one taken just a few months ago, on March 7.

The distal tip of the Kahauale‘a 2 flow, shown here, was 8.6 km (5.3 miles) straight-line distance northeast of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō when mapped today. The flows advanced about 300 m (0.2 miles) since April 28.

The flow from the South spatter cone has buried part of the southern flank of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō cone, leaving little of the original tephra that composes the cone visible. Compare this photo to the one taken just a few months ago, on March 7.

New flows on the floor of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater over the past few weeks threatened cameras positioned on the crater's north rim. Two cameras—a thermal camera observing the crater and a regular webcam observing the active Kahauale‘a 2 flow in the distance—were moved to a safer location partway up the steep northwestern flank of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō cone.

The distal tip of the Kahauale‘a 2 flow, shown here, was 8.6 km (5.3 miles) straight-line distance northeast of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō when mapped today. The flows advanced about 300 m (0.2 miles) since April 28.