Images

A firehose of lava continues to pour into the sea at the Kamokuna ocean entry, sending a plume of steam, hydrochloric acid, and glass particles into the air and drifting downwind. Offshore, lava entering the sea also produces plumes of hot, discolored water.

This is the Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center's Sediment Prep Lab, where sediment samples and core subsamples are prepared for analyses.

Sunset view of the Kīlauea summit lava lake showing an active area of spattering at the right margin. Jagged openings between cooler crustal plates reveal molten lava. HVO is faintly visible on the Kīlauea Caldera rim at upper left. USGS photo February 13, 2017.

A closer view of the ocean entry and plumes of hot, discolored water.

A closer view of the lava firehose at the ocean entry. The lava stream here is roughly 1-2 meters wide (3-6 ft), and plunges about 20 m (66 ft) into the water.

Summit inflation over the past day has driven the lava lake to rise slightly. This morning, the surface of the lake was about 23.5 m (77 ft) below the Overlook crater rim. In this photo, spattering was occurring along the southern lake margin in two locations.

Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō started as a cinder and spatter cone in the 1980s, but over the past 30 years flank vents on the cone have produced stacks of lava flows, creating a broad shield around the cone. This view looks north and shows the shield shape clearly. Mauna Kea Volcano can be seen in the distance.

A lava pond has been present in a small pit in the western portion of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Crater for nearly two years. Unusually clear views today revealed several areas of spattering, and some crustal foundering.

Eruptive activity on March 8 produced large changes in the shape and size of the island. The most active vent for the explosive activity is located under the water in the center of the island, and it was greatly enlarged by the March 8 event. The western coastline has grown, and a new vent was produced on the north shore of the island.

This satellite image was captured on Wednesday, March 8, by the NASA/USGS Landsat 8 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.

As seen in late January, the interaction of molten lava and cold seawater at the Kamokuna ocean entry produces an explosion, sending hot fragments and steam high into the air. The sea cliff in this image is about 15 meters (50 feet) high. USGS photo.

Inundation zones shown on map sheets as numbered colored boxes.

Eruption cloud, from the east crater of Anatahan Volcano. View from the NE side of the island, looking in a southwesterly direction.

The surface breakout that started on February 10 remains active on the coastal plain just east of the main episode 61g lava flow field. The flow front, pictured here, advanced to about 300 m (0.2 miles) from the emergency access road in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, but appeared to be stalled this afternoon.

A Valentine's Day 2017 view of Kīlauea Volcano's summit lava lake, here the surface of the lake is about 21 m (69 ft) below the vent rim. The lake diameter is about 255 m or 840 ft. Careful tracking of the amount of ash emitted by lake processes suggest an important new insight into the supply of magma to Kīlauea's summit. USGS Photo.

University of Washington's research vessel R/V Barnes is loaded with the USGS multichannel seismic system components GeoEel, Chirp, and boom plates.

Close view of lava spilling into the sea at nearest bench in left photo.

Campout flow forms several benches at East Ka`ili`ili. August 5, 2006. View is toward the southwest along the coast of Kīlauea Volcano at the eastern edge of the new lava entry. Note multiple benches forming at base of seacliff, which is about 20 m tall.

This is a helicorder seismogram displaying vertical ground velocities at the summit of Hualālai volcano south of the earthquake epicenters. Each line represents 10 minutes and time increases from left to right. Each line continues on the line below. The seismogram starts at 2 am and ends at 2 pm HST on October 15, 2006.

Webcam view of the lava pond on July 12 at 10:43 a.m. The lava level is higher than on July 10 and completely fills the levees.

Webcam view of the lava pond within Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater on July 10, 2007, at 11:19 a.m. H.s.t. Note that the lava level has dropped so the inner edges of the levee on the far side can be seen more clearly.