Images

The fuming spatter cone near the center of the photo is informally called the "Northeast spatter cone", and is the source of the Kahauale‘a 2 flow. Lava reaches the surface at that point and flows directly into a lava tube, which feeds the active flows downslope. View is toward the west.

Spattering was occurring at three locations along the edge of the lava lake during today's overflight. Spattering like this is common, can occur anywhere around the lake margin (though it most often occurs at the southeast edge), and repeatedly starts and stops. View is toward the southeast.

Spattering was occurring at three locations along the edge of the lava lake during today's overflight. Spattering like this is common, can occur anywhere around the lake margin (though it most often occurs at the southeast edge), and repeatedly starts and stops. View is toward the southeast.

The Kahauale‘a 2 flow remains active northeast of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. Today, its most distant tip, in the foreground of this photo, was burning into the forest 7.0 km (4.3 miles) from its source at Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. View is toward the southwest.

The fuming spatter cone near the center of the photo is informally called the "Northeast spatter cone", and is the source of the Kahauale‘a 2 flow. Lava reaches the surface at that point and flows directly into a lava tube, which feeds the active flows downslope. View is toward the west.

While the top of the Northeast spatter cone is often open, revealing a small lava pond (see photo from June 6, 2014), today its top was sealed shut. This has happened several times over the past year, and is likely a temporary situation. View is toward the northwest.

While the top of the Northeast spatter cone is often open, revealing a small lava pond (see photo from June 6, 2014), today its top was sealed shut. This has happened several times over the past year, and is likely a temporary situation. View is toward the northwest.

The summit lava lake, its surface composed of solidified plates separated by incandescent seams, was about 42 m (138 ft) below the floor of Halema‘uma‘u today. The mostly destroyed visitor overlook is at the left side of the photo, on the rim of Halema‘uma‘u. View is toward the west.

Photo from a time-lapse camera looking eastward along the north shore of Barter Island on Alaska’s Arctic coast, June 15, 2014. View the complete time-lapse sequence to see how the coastal bluffs and beach changed during a single summer.

USGS researchers collect repeat geophysical data from the nearshore at Fire Island, NY to study bathymetric change over time.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Lighter Amphibious Resupply Cargo (LARC) survey vessel towed an Edgetech chirp 512i subbottom profiler mounted on a catamaran sled.

USGS scientist Jennifer Miselis stands on board the US Army Corps of Engineers' (USACE) Lighter Amphibious Resupply Cargo (LARC). USGS collaborated with USACE to analyze coastal change due to Hurricane Sandy. Miselis is preparing to deploy a Chirp sub-bottom profiling system with a towfish attached in between the pontoons to collect sub-seafloor geological data.

A crew of USGS scientists prepares equipment, including personal watercraft, to collect nearshore bathymetry and sub-surface geology data to assess the impacts of Hurricane Sandy.

Summit deflation in May resulted in a decrease in lava supply to the Kahauale‘a 2 flow, with the flow front becoming inactive and stalling. Breakouts behind the flow front, however, remain active. The thermal image on the right shows these breakouts clearly as the yellow and white regions.

The lava pond in the northeast portion of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater remains active, and has built up a slightly elevated rim following several overflows over the past week. Today the pond was gently gas pistoning - a process that involves the cyclic rise and fall of the lava level due to gas buildup and release.

Gas bubbles rising through the lava pond create small blisters in the thin flexible crust near the pond margin.

An HVO geologist shields his face from intense heat as he dips a rock hammer into an active pāhoehoe toe. After scooping out the lava it is placed in the water to quench it. HVO routinely collects lava samples for chemical analysis, which can give insight into changes in the magmatic system.

Thin fume allowed good views of the lava lake in the Overlook crater, which is set within Halema‘uma‘u Crater at the summit of Kīlauea. The lake is roughly 150 meters (490 ft) wide by 200 meters (700 ft) long. Although spattering is commonly present along the margin of the lake, during our overflight no spattering was occurring.

A volcano monitoring “spider” was deployed by helicopter to the Oso landslide to track ground movement and seismicity while search-and-rescue operations were ongoing.  The spider was equipped with a seismometer (mounted on the far left leg) to track ground shaking and GPS (a dome-shaped instrument on the upper mast) to track subtle ground movement.

A site where volcanoes used to be active in the Chinati Mountains near Presidio, Texas. 

Kawah Ijen, a hot, acidic crater lake in East Java, Indonesia, with active gas release around its shoreline, will be the location of a September 2014 workshop studying "wet volcanoes." This view looks toward the northwest in December 2013. Photo credit: Okkisafire, Wikimedia Commons, January 2014.