Images

Aerial view of spattering at the southwest edge of the lava lake below the inner ledge (within the fume) on November 1, 2012. The lake sits inside a smaller crater at the east edge of the floor of Halema‘uma‘u Crater.

The active flow front today was about 500 meters (0.3 miles) from the shoreline, and still running along the eastern boundary of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. In this photo, the lava flow passes by another Park boundary marker.

The summit of Mauna Loa (left) rises above the vog layer on the leeward side of the Island of Hawai‘i in November 2012. The flank of Hualālai is visible at right.

Overwash processes caused by storms, like the one seen here following Hurricane Sandy on a barrier island in Virginia, push sand landward over dunes to create low-elevation, minimally vegetated sandy habitats used by a variety of species, like piping plovers.

The active flow front was about 780 m (0.5 miles) from the shoreline today, with a portion of the flow front following along the margin of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. In this photo, the recently active flow margin (lighter color flows) stalled just a meter or so from one of the Park boundary signs.

Extreme storms can drastically increase water levels and wave energy causing a breach, or complete erosion of the island itself. Hurricane Sandy created a breach in the Otis Pike High Dunes Wilderness Area at Fire Island National Seashore in NY.

Hurricane Sandy leveled dunes and moved eroded sediment from the dunes and beach across the island and into the estuary (Great South Bay) at Fire Island, NY.

This image was captured on Saturday, November 3, by the Advanced Land Imager sensor aboard 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 or very recently active lava flows.

Time-lapse camera image captured on October 1 from the north rim of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō showing the small lava lake in the pit on the northeastern edge of the crater floor. The fume in the background is rising from two openings on the southeastern side of the crater.

Time-lapse camera image from the north rim of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō captured on November 1. The northeastern pit has been filled, and the lava lake is now contained within levees, perched higher than the adjacent crater floor. The lake is weakly spattering behind the new cone in the foreground to the left side of the image.

Time-lapse camera image captured on October 1 from the north rim of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō showing the small lava lake in the pit on the northeastern edge of the crater floor. The fume in the background is rising from two openings on the southeastern side of the crater.

Time-lapse camera image from the north rim of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō captured on November 1. The northeastern pit has been filled, and the lava lake is now contained within levees, perched higher than the adjacent crater floor. The lake is weakly spattering behind the new cone in the foreground to the left side of the image.

This thermal image shows an overview of active surface flows today. There was a small area of active surface flows near the top of the pali, at the top of Royal Gardens subdivision, but most of the surface flows were active on the coastal plain.

This thermal image shows an overview of active surface flows today. There was a small area of active surface flows near the top of the pali, at the top of Royal Gardens subdivision, but most of the surface flows were active on the coastal plain.

A closer view of the lava lake in the northeast portion of the crater floor at Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō.

At Halema‘uma‘u, the lava has dropped over the past week to levels more typical of the last few months. Today, the lava was slightly below the deep inner ledge, with spattering along the southwest lake margin.

This view towards the southeast shows the vent area and upper lava tube system. In the lower right is Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater, with a small circular lava lake in the northeast portion of the crater floor.

Map showing the extent of lava flows erupted during Kīlauea's ongoing east rift zone eruption and labeled with the years in which they were active.

Picture showing the increased size of the sandbar after the November 2012 controlled flood from the Glen Canyon Dam. This location is 65 miles downstream from Lees Ferry and the view is looking downstream. These and additional photographs depicting the results of the recent controlled floods can be viewed online.

Mount Hood with Portland International Airport (Oregon) in the foreground. An ash-producing eruption of Mount Hood could ground air traffic and significantly impact commerce in surrounding states.