Images

The lava delta at Kīlauea Volcano's Kamokuna ocean entry is quickly rebuilding after the collapse on May 3, when much of the previous delta collapsed into the sea. A robust steam plume obscured the seaward section of the delta today (May 7).

Time-averaged image, or “timex,” created by averaging the intensity of light recorded at each spot, or “pixel,” during a 10-minute video taken at Santa Cruz, California, on May 6, 2017. Blurred white zones show where waves are breaking. Line between wet and dry sand shows the maximum height on the beach reached by the waves (“runup”).

“Variance” image produced from video shot at Cowells Beach in Santa Cruz, California, on May 6, 2017. The more the light intensity changes at a given spot, or “pixel,” during the video, the brighter the value assigned to that pixel. Motion tends to produce changes in light intensity. Note bright areas along and beyond the shore where waves were breaking.

Between 9:35 and 9:40 a.m., a large steam plume appeared in the middle of Kamokuna lava delta in the area of large cracks noted in our April 27 image (see below). Weak fountaining or spattering likely occurred initially, because new tephra is visible in the steaming area, but that activity ended by 9:40 a.m.

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the active flow field as of April 10 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the active flow as of May 3 is shown in red. Older Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō lava flows (1983-2016) are shown in gray. The yellow line is the trace of the active lava tube (dashed where uncertain).

On May 3, Kīlauea Volcano's Kamokuna lava delta, which had been growing since late March, collapsed. An HVO time-lapse camera captured the sequence of events in five-minute intervals. This image shows the lava delta at 7:50 a.m. HST, a couple of hours before the collapse.

Within five minutes, between 9:55 and 10:00 a.m. HST, nearly the entire delta disappeared, collapsing into the sea. The collapsed area cut back toward the sea cliff, past the largest crack on the delta. In this image, captured at 10:05 a.m., the seawater is brown and turbulent.

This morning (May 4), the Kamokuna ocean entry was obscured by a thick steam plume at the base of the cliff. Sparse littoral bursts, occasionally visible through the plume, were the source of the floating, steaming lava fragments that can be seen in the ocean near the entry.

This small-scale map shows Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow field in relation to the southeastern part of the Island of Hawai‘i. The area of the active flow field as of April 10 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the active flow as of May 3 is shown in red. Older Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō lava flows (1983-2016) are shown in gray.

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory volunteer Marcy Frenz feeds a seismogram from the May 1982 Kīlauea south caldera earthquake flurry into a large-format document scanner. Preserving stacks of paper earthquake records as digital image files is an ongoing project at HVO. USGS photo by S. Tsang.

Provisional data subject to revision. From the USGS Remote Sensing Coastal Change Project, illustration describes how the USGS measures topographic change with 4D photogrammetry utilizing the techniques of Warrick et al., 2017. A digital terrain model of a coastal cliff is shown with its ground control points.

The episode 61g Kamokuna ocean entry has been slowly building a new lava delta for a little over a month now. Since our April 15 post, the delta has grown substantially. Two large cracks parallel to the coast are visible on the delta (center), with the distal portion slumping slightly seaward—suggesting further instability.

Early this morning the lava lake level was measured at 12.5 m (41 ft) below the vent rim, the highest level the lake reached this month. But, at around 8:30 a.m., summit inflation switched to deflation and the lava lake level began to drop.

By mid-afternoon, when these photos were taken, the drop in the lava lake level was obvious. A "bathtub ring" of black lava forming a rim on the vent wall (between the lighter-colored rocks higher in the wall and the surface of the lava lake) provides a record of the lake's previous higher level.

Mount St. Helens monitoring station SEP during temporary installation of a 20 foot mast to restore data flow after heavy snow buried the site and cut off seismic data transmission.

Mount St. Helens monitoring station SEP buried in about 10-15 ft of snow. Station stands approximately 8 ft tall and is located to the right of the person in this photo. April 21, 2018

Ben Gaddis, a volunteer at the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, works on historical documentation of volcanic products from the 1924 explosive eruption of Halema‘uma‘u Crater within Kīlauea's summit caldera. Ben recently received the U.S. Department of Interior's "Citizen's Award for Exceptional Service" for his many years of volunteer service at HVO.

The ocean entry at Kamokuna remains active, with a small lava delta. Views of the lava streams entering the water were obscured by the thick plume. Very weak littoral explosions were occurring.

Lava flowing from Kīlauea again

Local volcanologist to assess Zaire eruption

A wide range of clothing and preparedness is seen amongst the estimated 1,500 people a day visiting Kīlauea's active flow field and ocean entry.