Images

Mount Hood, Oregon simplified hazards map showing potential impact area for ground-based hazards during a volcanic event.

Preview image for video: shows a time-lapse sequence of activity at the northeast spatter cone in Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater on February 9-10. Rapid fluctuations in the height of the lava pond are caused by gas pistoning, which is the gradual buildup and release of gas in the pond. Mauna Kea is visible in the upper right portion of the frame.

This selection of images shows activity at the northeast spatter cone in Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō over the past two weeks. The lava pond was undergoing gas pistoning, a gradual buildup and release of gas in the lava pond that is often associated with spattering and lava level changes. For scale, the lava pond is about 10 m (30 feet) across.

More images of the northeast spatter cone in Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, taken with a time-lapse camera.

View of the flow front of the Kahauale‘a 2 flow, looking west. The flow front has focused into a new lobe that is slowly migrating through thick forest, triggering scattered forest fires. The smoke from these fires seems to be "seeding" the cloud above it. The active flow front was 7.4 km (4.6 miles) northeast of the vent on Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō.

Looking northeast from Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, the smoke coming from forest fires at the front of the Kahauale‘a 2 flow can be seen in the distance. In the foreground, thick fume is coming from the Kahauale‘a 2 lava tube, which is supplying lava to the flow front.

View of the northeast spatter cone in Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater. This small cone is also the vent area for the Kahauale‘a 2 flow. The cone has recently hosted a small lava pond, but today this seemed to be crusted over. See the time-lapse sequences below to see recent activity at this cone.

Thermal image of the front of the Kahauale‘a 2 flow. Yellow and white areas depict active breakouts, while red areas are cooler, inactive portions of the flow. Over the past week a new lobe has pushed east, between lobes that were active in November and January. The tip of this new lobe was 7.4 km (4.6 miles) northeast of the vent on Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō.

A wide view of activity from the east rift zone to the summit. In the foreground, Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater emits fume from numerous sources on the crater floor. One of these cones hosts a small lava pond, and can be seen at the far right edge of the photo, marked by a small bit of incandescence.

A wide view of activity from the east rift zone to the summit. In the foreground, Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater emits fume from numerous sources on the crater floor. One of these cones hosts a small lava pond, and can be seen at the far right edge of the photo, marked by a small bit of incandescence.

pāhoehoe breakouts were scattered at the far end of the Kahauale‘a 2 flow today, as far as 6.9 km (4.3 miles) from the vent on Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. This photo shows some typical activity on the Kahauale‘a 2 flow, with snow-covered Mauna Kea in the distance.

A closer view of the lava pond at the northeast spatter cone in Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater. The pond is about 10 m (about 30 ft) wide, and was undergoing cycles of gas pistoning. The lava level would slowly and quietly rise a meter (yard) or more over about five minutes, and vigorous spattering would commence.

pāhoehoe breakouts were scattered at the far end of the Kahauale‘a 2 flow today, as far as 6.9 km (4.3 miles) from the vent on Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. This photo shows some typical activity on the Kahauale‘a 2 flow, with snow-covered Mauna Kea in the distance.

A close-up view of the lava pond in Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater. The lava surface was quietly rising when this photo was taken. When the lava reached a critical level, vigorous spattering would begin at the large area of incandescence seen here. The rim of the lava pond is covered in a thick coating of spatter from similar events.

An HVO scientist (center) observes 20-m- (65-ft-) high lava fountains erupted from Mauna Loa on March 25, 1984. The 30th anniversary of this eruption will be the topic of an "After Dark in the Park" program presented by HVO geologist Frank Trusdell on March 25, 2014.

Every inch of the deck of the R/V Connecticut is covered by instrumented platforms awaiting deployment on the seafloor south of Fire Island NY in winter 2014.

  Every inch of the deck of the R/V Connecticut is covered by instrumented platforms awaiting deployment on the seafloor south of Fire Island NY in winter 2014. 

This image was acquired by the Earth Observing 1 satellite's Advanced Land Imager sensor on February 2, and shows Kīlauea's summit and east rift zone. Although this is a false-color image, the color map has been chosen to mimic what the human eye would expect to see.

A view of the summit lava lake at dusk. The lava lake is contained within a crater informally called the "Overlook" crater (due to its position immediately below the former Halema‘uma‘u visitor overlook), and this crater is set within the larger Halema‘uma‘u Crater. The photo was taken from the rim of Halema‘uma‘u Crater.

Shaded relief map of Kīlauea's East Rift Zone in the vicinity of the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō eruption site. Colors show changes in elevation that occurred due to emplacement of a lava flow at the base of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō during August 3-15, 2011. Parts of this flow were over 20 m (60 ft) thick.

Preview image for video: This Quicktime video shows a time-lapse sequence spanning from dawn to dusk on Tuesday, January 28, using images collected by our webcam near the summit of Mauna Loa Volcano (13,680 ft above sea level).