Images

There were two breakouts from the upper tube system on and at the foot of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Cone (right center). The largest and most active was the breakout nearest Pu‘u Kahauale‘a in the left center of the photograph.

The leading edge of the lobe nearest Pahoa Marketplace is still stalled but, for the past few days, a new breakout has been advancing along its southern margin and is approaching the AP‘A‘ā St. firebreak.

This small-scale map shows Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow in relation to lower Puna. The area of the flow on February 27 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of March 10 is shown in red.

Several breakouts were active upslope of the stalled front. This breakout issued from an inflated tumulus along the north margin of the June 27th flow.

This large-scale map uses a satellite image acquired in March 2014 (provided by Digital Globe) as a base to show the area around the front of Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow. The area of the flow on February 27 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of March 10 is shown in red.

The thin crust over the lava lake within the Halema‘uma‘u Overlook crater was moving slowly to the southeast. During our overflight, there was no spattering and wispy gas emissions allowed clear views.

This map overlays a georegistered mosaic of thermal images collected during a helicopter overflight of the distal part of Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow on March 10 at about 10:35 AM. The base image is a satellite image acquired in March 2014 (provided by Digital Globe).

This map overlays a georegistered mosaic of thermal images collected during a helicopter overflight of Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow west of Kaohe Homesteads on March 10 at about 10:30 AM. The perimeter of the flow at the time the imagery was acquired is outlined in yellow.

This map overlays georegistered mosaics of thermal images collected during a helicopter overflight of Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow near Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō on March 10 at about 10:25 AM. The perimeter of the flow at the time the imagery was acquired is outlined in yellow.

Closeup of the new breakout near Pu‘u Kahauale‘a.

Left: Christina (Tina) Neal leaves the snowy stratovolcanoes of Alaska, where she spent almost 25 years as a USGS geologist with the Alaska Volcano Observatory, to become the new Scientist-in-Charge of the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory on March 8, 2015. Photo courtesy of Tina Neal.

This satellite image was captured on Tuesday, March 3, 2015 by the 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.

The leading tip of the June 27th flow remains stalled, but breakouts persist upslope of the stalled tip. Over the past few days, summit deflation has led to a reduction in overall surface activity on the June 27th flow, particularly in the upslope portion of the flow field near Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō.

Another small breakout upslope of the stalled flow front, triggering a small brush fire. Low clouds and rain prevented wider views of the flow activity today.

Summit deflation over the past few days has been associated with a steadily dropping lava lake level. This morning, the lake was 72 m (240 ft) below the rim of the Overlook crater.

This comparison of a normal photograph and a thermal image shows the leading portion of the June 27th flow. The white box shows the rough extent of the thermal image. In the thermal image, the active breakouts are visible as yellow and white pixels, and these areas are scattered upslope of the stalled tip of the flow.

The breakout on the north flank of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō that began last weekend remains active, but has advanced only a minor distance over the past four days. The new breakout is visible as the light-colored area just to the right of the center of the photograph. Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Crater is in the upper left portion of the photograph.

A closer look at some of the activity at the breakout on Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō.

This photograph looks southeast at the fork in the June 27th flow that is just west of Kaohe Homesteads. The east branch (top portion of photo) crossed AP‘A‘ā St. and entered Pāhoa in late October, and this branch is now inactive. The west branch (lower portion of photo) has headed towards areas at the north end of Pāhoa, and remains active.

An HVO geologist sets up a time-lapse camera to monitor the breakout on Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō.

This view looks north and shows Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. Much of the original cone has been covered by subsequent lava flows, many of which poured out of the crater. Within the crater, a depression holds a number of smaller pits, some of which contain active lava ponds.