Images

A closer view of the lava pond in the northeast portion of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater. The lava pond has partially closed over the past several weeks, and today was about 5 meters (yards) in diameter - about half of the diameter from two weeks ago. The pond was spattering, with small bits of airborne spatter visible in this photograph.

Map showing the Kahauale‘a 2 flow in relation to the eastern part of the Island of Hawai‘i as of April 7, 2014. The active front of the Kahauale‘a 2 flow was 8.2 km (5.1 miles) northeast of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō and advancing very slowly through thick forest.

A view of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater from the north, looking southeast. In the foreground, the crater rim has red hues due to oxidized cinder and spatter from the early days of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō in the 1980s. In the center of the photograph, the black crater floor consists of lava flows erupted in the last several years, with several spatter cones built upon these flows.

Scanning Electron Microscope images, collected at UH Hilo, showing a fragment of lava collected from the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō lava pond in November 2013. The bar scale at the right is 300 microns (0.012 in). The mostly uniform light gray is basalt glass and darker gray crystals are olivine (left) and pyroxene (right).

The left axis shows the number of earthquakes per week. The right axis is the total cumulative number of earthquakes, which means it has to always increase. It increased a lot in the period 1996-2003 when there was a period of uplift near Norris.

Catastrophic landslide near Oso, Washington, March 22, 2014.

Oblique aerial photograph of the Oso, Washington landslide, showing the entire extent of the landslide source area and path.

Location: State Route 530, Oso, Washington

The photograph shows a spider unit, which is being used to help study the landslide that occurred in northwest Washington on March 22, 2014. Spiders are portable instrumentation packages that contain high-precision GPS units for detecting landslide movement as well as geophones for detecting small vibrations. The spiders can be emplaced by hovering helicopters.

Photograph from aerial survey showing the upper parts of the landslide that occurred in northwest Washington on March 22, 2014.

USGS tilt current meter (white cylinder) in overwash channel in the Sandwich Town Beach flooded during a Nor'Easter in March 2014

Photograph from an aerial survey showing the extent and impacts from the landslide in northwest Washington that occurred on March 22, 2014. The survey was conducted by the Washington State Department of Transportation, Washington State Department of Natural Resources, USGS, and King County Sheriff's Office.

Photograph from an aerial survey showing the extent and impacts from the landslide in northwest Washington that occurred on March 22, 2014. The survey was conducted by the Washington State Department of Transportation, Washington State Department of Natural Resources, USGS, and King County Sheriff's Office.

Photograph from an aerial survey showing the extent and impacts from the landslide in northwest Washington that occurred on March 22, 2014. The survey was conducted by the Washington State Department of Transportation, Washington State Department of Natural Resources, USGS, and King County Sheriff's Office.

Photograph from an aerial survey showing the extent and impacts from the landslide in northwest Washington that occurred on March 22, 2014. The survey was conducted by the Washington State Department of Transportation, Washington State Department of Natural Resources, USGS, and King County Sheriff's Office.

Photograph from an aerial survey showing the extent and impacts from the landslide in northwest Washington that occurred on March 22, 2014. The survey was conducted by the Washington State Department of Transportation, Washington State Department of Natural Resources, USGS, and King County Sheriff's Office.

Photograph from an aerial survey showing the extent and impacts from the landslide in northwest Washington that occurred on March 22, 2014. The survey was conducted by the Washington State Department of Transportation, Washington State Department of Natural Resources, USGS, and King County Sheriff's Office.

Mar 21, 2014: The Kahauale‘a 2 flow remains active, with the active flow front slowly moving through thick forest northeast of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. The flow front today was 8.2 km (5.1 miles) northeast of the vent on Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, which is visible in the center of the photograph, although partly obscured by fume and smoke from burning trees.

Mar 21, 2014: The small (10 meters, or 30 feet, wide) lava pond within the northeast spatter cone on Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō experiences cyclic rises and falls of the lava surface called "gas pistoning," driven by the buildup and release of gas in the pond. At the time of this photograph, the pond surface had dropped following the release of gas.

(Right) Spattering at the edge of the pond during the fall cycle.

Mar 21, 2014: The release of gas from the lava pond at Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō nearly obscures the spatter (fluid fragments of molten lava) being thrown about a meter (3 ft) high.