Images

Several skylights provided views into the June 27th lava tube today, and the fluid lava stream could be seen moving downslope.

The thermal image on the right provides a different view of the flow front, and clearly shows the scattered breakouts in this area. Most of these active breakouts were at, or upslope from, the slowly advancing flow front on the north margin of the flow. The leading edge of the stalled flow front, not surprisingly, did not have any active breakouts.

Preview image for video: shows an HVO geologist sampling lava on the June 27th lava flow using a rock hammer. The lava is placed into a bucket of water to quench the sample. Lava samples like this are routinely collected for chemical analysis, which provides insight into the magmatic system feeding the eruption.

This comparison of a photograph with a corresponding thermal image shows a typical lobe of pāhoehoe on the June 27th lava flow. The highest surface temperatures in this image are just under 900 Celsius (1650 F), but if one measured the temperature of the lava beneath the thin crust it would be close to 1140 Celsius (2080 F).

Another view of the flow front region, looking northeast. Pāhoa can be seen near the top of the photograph, and is about 3.3 km (2.1 miles) from the stalled flow front.

A wide view from the summit, looking east. Halema‘uma‘u Crater occupies the foreground, with the lava lake in the Overlook crater. At the skyline, Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō can be seen. The June 27th lava flow is fed from a vent on Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, with lava traveling through a lava tube to the flow front.

This map uses satellite imagery acquired in March 2014 (provided by Digital Globe) as a base image to show the area around the front of the June 27th lava flow. The flow front closest to the transfer station was inactive, but small, sluggish breakouts were scattered across the surface of the flow upslope from the stalled front.

This small-scale map shows the June 27th flow in Kīlauea's East Rift Zone in relation to lower Puna. The area of the flow on September 19, 2014, at 11:45 AM is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as mapped on September 24 at 10:45 AM is shown in red.

This satellite image was captured by the Advanced Land Imager instrument onboard NASA's Earth Observing 1 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.

This large-scale map shows the distal part of the June 27th flow in relation to nearby Puna communities. The black dots mark the flow front on specific dates. The latitude and longitude of the flow front on September 19 was 19.47593/-154.975505 (Decimal degrees; WGS84).

This small-scale map shows the June 27th flow in Kīlauea's East Rift Zone in relation to lower Puna. The area of the flow on September 17, 2014, at 3:45 PM is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as mapped on September 19 at 11:45 AM is shown in red.

The June 27th flow remains active and heading northeast, moving through Kaohe Homesteads. For several weeks the flow has been moving through thick forest, and today the flow front reached the forest boundary and more open ground. Nevertheless, active portions of the flow remain in the forest and fires continue.

Another view of the narrow flow front. Kaohe Homesteads is in the lower left portion of the image. The vent for the June 27th lava flow is on Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, which can be seen on the skyline.

View of the flow front, looking north. Pāhoa is located in the upper right portion of the photograph. The flow front today was 3.4 km (2.1 miles) from Pāhoa Village Road.

Preview image for video: gives a quick aerial overview of the activity at the front of the June 27th lava flow. Kaohe Homesteads is in the lower left.

Views of the flow front from two different angles, with equivalent thermal images for comparison. The thermal images show that surface breakouts were focused on three areas near the flow front: 1) the flow front itself, 2) an area 300 meters (yards) behind the flow front and 3) a larger area about 1 km (0.6 miles) behind the flow front.

A close-up view of the surface of the June 27th lava flow, near the flow front. The pāhoehoe flow is too thin and slow to topple trees as it passes, but instead the lava surrounds the trees and burns through the base. When the trees fall over, the flow surface may have cooled enough that the trunks remain intact.

This map uses satellite imagery acquired in March 2014 as a base image to show the area around the front of the June 27th lava flow. The blue line and arrowheads show the projected path of the flow over the next two weeks (to October 3), based on the average flow rate over the last two days and the local topography.

This large-scale map shows the distal part of the June 27th flow in relation to nearby Puna communities. The black dots mark the flow front on specific dates. The latitude and longitude of the flow front on September 17 was 19.4737016 /-154.977834 (Decimal degrees; WGS84).

Another view of the flow front in the northwest portion of Kaohe Homesteads. The leading portion of the flow front narrowed over the past two days and was roughly 150 m (500 ft) wide.

A view looking down the axis of the flow at the flow front. Pāhoa is in the upper right portion of the photograph.