Images

This photo looks north-northwest at the northeast embayment at Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, showing the vent (a spatter cone) on the floor of the embayment. The heavy fume on the rim of the embayment is another vent.

This photo, also of the northeast embayment at Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, is interesting because it shows the lava tube for the Kahauale‘a 2 flow, active during 2013 and 2014, exposed high on the crater wall. The Kahauale‘a 2 flow is the lava flow that preceded the currently active June 27th lava flow, which began June 27, 2014.

One of the new tools deployed by the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory to better monitor the current unrest on Mauna Loa is a webcam focused on the volcano's Southwest Rift Zone, which has been the site of eruptions in 1903, 1916, 1919, 1926, and 1950.

USGS geologist Jamie Conrad uses a map of the seafloor off Southern California to plan high-resolution mapping southwest of Santa Catalina Island. Small inset shows seafloor data collected by the ship that reveals hills, gullies, and basins.

A ship will tow this green cable, which contains underwater microphones that record sound reflected off layers beneath the seafloor. USGS scientists will use the data to pinpoint the location of faults.

The Hilina Pali on Kīlauea Volcano's south flank is visible evidence of the steep Hilina Fault System. Beneath this system lies the flat-lying dEACUTEcollement fault that has no visible surface expression, but has produced several large earthquakes in the past 200 years. Photo courtesy of Ingrid Johanson.

A narrow stream of lava pours from the top of a tumulus (roughly 3 meters, or 10 feet above the surroundings), attesting to the fluid pressure in the interior of the flow. This view looks north, towards the area that lava is burning forest. Mauna Kea is faintly visible in the distance.

A closer view of the lava lake surface. The white plume originates from lava spattering, just out of view.

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the flow field on January 19 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow field as mapped on February 12 is shown in red. The yellow lines show the active lava tube system. Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō lava flows erupted prior to June 27, 2014, are shown in gray.

Scattered breakouts persist northeast of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, with much of the active lava moving along the northern flow field boundary, burning vegetation and creating smoke plumes. This view looks southwest, and Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō is near the top of the photograph.

A closer view of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, looking northwest. The vent for the June 27th lava flow is at the right edge of the photograph, near the source of white fume. Mauna Loa (upper left) and Mauna Kea (upper right) are visible in the distance.

One of the many active pāhoehoe lobes on the flow field today.

Comparison of a normal photograph with a thermal image of a pāhoehoe lobe on the flow field today.

The summit lava lake level has continued to rise over the past week with inflation, and was about 30 meters (roughly 100 feet) below the Overlook crater rim.

Clear skies today had bright sunlight filtering through the thick fume on the rim of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Crater.

This map overlays a georeferenced thermal image mosaic onto a map of the flow field near Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō to show the distribution of active and recently active breakouts. The thermal images were collected during a helicopter overflight on February 12. The June 27th flow field as mapped on January 19 is outlined in green for comparison.

(Left) Multiple degassing sources in the crater and on the flanks of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō create a plume that fills the sky above Kīlauea Volcano's East Rift Zone eruption site on December 30, 2015. (Right) Kīlauea Volcano's summit lava lake within Halema‘uma‘u Crater discharges a particle-rich plume of noxious sulfur dioxide on December 9, 2015. USGS photos.

The USGS Coastal and Estuarine Dynamics Group will be deploying a Nanopod at Pea Island DUNEX experiment site to collect oceanographic information.

Three images showing Kilauea and Mauna Loa volcanoes on the island of Hawaii; 2016 satellite image mosaic

Before and after photos by Menzies Dickson of a Mauna Loa lava flow cascading into and ultimately filling a stream bed near Hilo in July 1881. Photos courtesy of National Park Service, Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park.

An 1891 map of Hilo, produced by Surveyor E.D. Baldwin, is superimposed on a recent Google Earth image of the town to show the location of the Kalanakamaa gulch relative to the ALENAIO and Waiākea streams.