Images

Photo taken at dawn of a fissure erupting between Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Crater and Nāpau.

Incandescent rubble rolling and sliding down the scarp on the edge of the collapsing crater in Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. A remnant of the pre-collapse crater floor can be seen in the background below the crater's south wall. The east rim of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō is in the foreground.

Fissures actively propagating during Kamoamoa eruption, Kīlauea, Hawai‘i. View looking at the NE end of the actively propagating fissure. Lava is just breaking the surface in foreground crack. Lava reached the surface along an actively propagating fissure during Kīlauea Volcano's Kamoamoa eruption on March 5, 2011.

View along fissure looking NE toward Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō shrouded in clouds in the background. Fissure segment in forest has shut down.

Map shows activity from Episode 56

Following several collapses and small explosive events that deposited spatter on the floor of Halema‘uma‘u crater around noon today, the lava surface in Halema‘uma‘u was roiling and agitated for the remainder of the afternoon, with numerous points of upwelling and spattering.

A close-up of the active lava surface in Halema‘uma‘u.

New fissure eruption SW of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō between Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō and Nāpau crater. Spatter is reaching 15-20 m into the air, above the trees.

A sailboat gets stuck under the Murray Street bridge over Santa Cruz Harbor in California, after it was washed free of its dock due to the strength of the tsunami wave from Japan. While the tsunami energy that hit the coast of California was relatively low, the wave energy is concentrated in narrow spaces like harbors.

Fissure eruption of low lava fountains from Kīlauea Volcano’s East Rift Zone in 2007, Island of Hawaiʻi.

These tephra deposits are from the Kulanaokuaiki Tephra erupted from Kīlauea Volcano about 200 to 1000 C.E. The base of a lava flow overlying the tephra is just above the person's hand. This site is located near the base of Kīlauea's summit crater wall, directly below the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and NPS Jaggar Museum.

The Boulder magnetic observatory. Variations and Proton Sensor buildings at the lower right.

Azimuth mark, Absolutes building and Coil building at Boulder magnetic observatory.

Azimuth mark, Absolutes building and Coil building at Boulder magnetic observatory.

Aerial photo showing lava fountains and flows from one of the fissure segments on March 8. A channelized ‘A‘ā flow is hidden by fume to right. Distant fume shows locations of other earlier Kamoamoa fissures active March 5-7. Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō about 3.6 km (2.2) in distance from the fountains.

Lava, erupting from the southwestern vent of the Kamoamoa eruption, fountains above the surrounding forest.

Overview of the Kamoamoa eruption looking northeast toward Pu'u 'O 'o, in the background. The southwestern vent is in the foreground, while the northeastern vent is the distant fume at the base of Pu'u 'O 'o.

Views into the Halema'uma'u vent have been largely obscured by fume over the past several days, and the only consistent views have been with a thermal camera, which can "see" through the fume. This thermal image was taken at a nearly vertical angle from a helicopter, in order to see the bottom of the extremely deep and narrow vent cavity.

View looking down onto the northeastern vent.

Lava fountains from the northeastern vent of the Kamoamoa eruption. Though it is an impressive sight, the Pu'u 'O 'o cone in the background, and several hundred meters higher, puts the current activity into perspective.

Overview of the Kamoamoa eruption looking south. The northeastern vent is to the left, and the southwestern vent is to the upper right. A river of lava, erupting from the southwestern vent, can be seen advancing toward the southeast through forest within Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park.