Images

Image comparison of Kīlauea summit lake on August 2, 2019 and July July 21, 2020

An HVO geologist collects GPS data on the western rim of Kīlauea's summit caldera. The geologist is standing upon a thick sequence of tephra deposits formed during explosive eruptions at Kīlauea's summit between about 1500 CE and the early 19th century.

Comet NEOWISE is seen with the Roosevelt Arch in the foreground at the north Entrance of Yellowstone National Park.  The town of Gardiner, Montana, is in the background.

Another view of the Fissure 8 channel, looking upstream. On the right, a lower ledge along the channel wall represents the level of lava in the channel during the later stages of the flow. USGS photo by M. Patrick.

View of the recently cleared Boiling Pots on the Wailuku River in Hilo. The pots, each about 15 m (50 ft) in diameter, are eroded into a 10,000 year old Mauna Loa lava flow. When the water is low, the river does not flow over some of the pot rims but it continues to flow through them. USGS photo.

HVO geologists visited the lower East Rift Zone lava flow field this past week to make measurements and observations, to better understand and reconstruct the dynamics of the Fissure 8 lava flow. This photo shows the channel wall in the braided channel region of the flow.

Images showing the flyrock trajectory from the 24 June 2020 rockfall (see previous figure). Rock impacts at the base of the talus slope split and moved boulders, launching a 0.5 cubic meter boulder 92 m into the lower parking lot at Whitney Portal.

In the eastern portion of the lake, the dark brown zone had a slightly mottled appearance, but this pattern was transient and gone within about ten minutes.

The water lake within Halema‘uma‘u crater, at the summit of Kīlauea, continues to slowly rise, with no significant changes in recent weeks. USGS photo by M. Patrick.

The eastern end of the lake, shown here, is slightly warmer than the lake center, and commonly has steam rising from the water surface. USGS photo by M. Patrick.

A view looking north on Cocoa beach towards Kennedy Space Station. Coastal infrastructure and natural resources such as sediment and beach vegetation can all be affected by coastal change processes.

Strong storms such as hurricanes can cause drastic changes to coastal environments. For example, this large washover fan was created on Fire Island, New York in 2012 after Hurricane Sandy by waves moving sediment from the dunes and beach towards the back-barrier environment. 

Safety is a top priority. USGS staff recently improved access to field sites at the Herring River estuary within the Cape Cod National Seashore to provide safer paths through a phragmites wetland.

Tina Neal, HVO Scientist-in-Charge from 2015–2020 ends her tenure on June 19, 2020. USGS photo.

During today's overflight of Kīlauea summit, both thermal and visual cameras were used to characterize activity. Comparing thermal (left) to visual (right) images of nearly the same view, you can see that the growing crater lake at Kīlauea's summit remains hot.

Instruments continue to collect vital data during workplace closures. Here staff perform maintenance on an eddy flux tower located within a phragmites wetland at the Cape Cod National Seashore. The instruments on this tower measure methane and CO2 fluxes related to plant and soil processes day in and day out for the entire year.

Steep walls, collapsed blocks, and rubble border Halema‘uma‘u Crater and Kīlauea's growing summit crater lake. In this photo, looking northwest, the summits of both Kīlauea (foreground) and Mauna Loa (background) are visible. USGS photos by K. Mulliken

Barry Arm of Harriman Fjord, Prince William Sound, Alaska. Included is Barry Glacier and Cascade Glacier.

HVO scientist measures the episode 12 lava fountain height at Mauna Ulu from Pu‘u Huluhulu on Dec 30, 1969. The Mauna Ulu eruption marks its 51st anniversary on May 24, 1969. Photo by Hans-Ulrich Schmincke.

Map of the portion of the southwest coast of Puerto Rico affected by an earthquake sequence that began in December 2019, along with portions of the seafloor where faults involved in the earthquake sequence were suspected to exist.

A small rockslide occurred today on the south wall of Halema‘uma‘u, sending boulders into the water at the bottom of the crater. USGS video by M. Patrick.