Images

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the active flow field as of August 9 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the active flow as of August 20 is shown in red. Older Puʻu ʻŌʻō lava flows (1983-2016) are shown in gray. The yellow line is the trace of the active lava tube.

On Saturday, August 19 at 04:10 HST a breakout that started 120 m (394 ft) up-slope of the ocean entry, began to spill over the sea cliff and onto the delta. The lava fall was located to the west of the ramp (tubed-over firehose), and produced a small ‘A‘ā flow on the western portion of the delta.

A telephoto image of the spatter deposit produced by the August 19 littoral explosions at the lava delta. When ejected, the spatter was thrown much higher than the height of the sea cliff which is approximately 28 m (92 ft). The flying debris is just one of the many hazards at an ocean entry.

At 9:35 pm HST on August 19, there was a large littoral explosion near the front of the delta (left). Another smaller explosion was seen 5 minutes later. These explosions are typically caused by mixing of cool sea water and hot lava. The August 19 explosions were not followed by obvious delta subsidence or collapse, something we have seen in the past.

Between August 19-22, 2017, 140 seismometers were deployed around Mount St. Helens. Instruments were placed on top of the 2004-2008 lava dome, the 1980-86 lava dome, the 1980 crater floor, and around the volcanic cone.

Map of lava flows erupted from Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō since 1983. Gray color shows area covered by lava flows erupted from many different vents between 1983 and June 2014. Pink shows the area covered by the June 27th flow between June 2014 and June 2016. Red shows the area covered by the 61g flow between May 2016 and August 9, 2017.

Cross section of a seafloor crust (AKA, ferromanganese or cobalt-rich crusts) from the Marshall Islands collected at almost 2,000 meters depth. 

The USGS uses observations and data collection in the back-barrier environment at Fire Island, NY to inform numerical models.

Mount St. Helens, as viewed from the Castle Lake Overlook.

The flow front of the June 26 breakout (pictured above) has stalled. On the coastal plain today, the closest active breakouts found by HVO geologists were 2.1 km (1.3 miles) upslope from the emergency route. There were a few areas of active pāhoehoe breakouts which varied from sluggish ropey textures to thin and fluid flows.

Cracks on the Kamokuna lava delta continue to develop. These photos from July 31 (left) and today, August 15 (right), highlight changes on the delta during the past two weeks. The yellow numbers mark a few prominent features on the delta (1 & 3) and older sea cliff (2 & 4).

USGS Research Scientist, Meagan Gonneea, talking about the differences between coastal salt marshes and invasive phragmites at the 2017 Woods Hole Science Stroll outreach event

Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center Science Stroll participants; Dann Blackwood, Andrea Toran, Emily Sturdivant, Ellyn Montgomery, Sara Zeigler, Neil Ganju, Seth Ackerman, Laura Brothers, Meagan Gonneea

SeaBOSS Selfies were a big hit at the 2017 Woods Hole Science Stroll.  

Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center drone pilot, Emily Sturdivant, provides a demonstration of drone capabilities at the 2017 Woods Hole Science Stroll

Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center Scientific Programmer, Tarandeep Kalra, talking to children about oceanographic modeling at the 2017 Woods Hole Science Stroll

Aeiral image of Woods Hole, MA taken during the 2017 Woods Hole Science Stroll.  The green USGS tent generated a lot of interest and participation from Science Stroll attendees

Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center drone pilot, Emily Sturdivant, lands a drone on target at the 2017 Woods Hole Science Stroll

This map is similar to the map above but shows a thermal map over the Episode 61g lava flow. Cooler colors (blue and green) show cooled, inactive portions of the flow surface. Hot colors (red and orange) show areas of active surface breakouts.

Side-by-side images from the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory's Thermal Web Camera (HTcam) located on the rim of Halema‘uma‘u before (left) and after (right) lava veneer from the vent wall fell into the lake on July 28, 2017. The collapse scar is circled at right.

While mapping the flow margins, HVO geologists found an opening into an old lava tube system that has been partly filled with episode 61g lava. Most of the cooled lava cascades were intact and sitting on top of rubble from the caved-in roof of the abandoned tube.