Images

An HVO gas scientist carrying portable gas sensor (yellow box) near Mauna Loa summit in June 2023. The white material on the ground in this photo is snow. USGS photo by P. Nadeau.

Duane Champion (shown here on the left, with two coworkers) helped us to unlock Pele’s secrets by studying the magnetic properties preserved in lava flows. A good friend and valuable colleague, he greatly improved our ability to reconstruct past geological events using paleomagnetism. He will be missed.

A USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologist examines layers of ash deposited during Kīlauea’s 1924 explosions south of the summit caldera. USGS Photo by J. Chang.

Another GPS survey benchmark being occupied on Mauna Loa. The metal disk on the ground beneath the tripod is the benchmark, which is cemented to the lava flow surface.

The Vibroseis truck operating on Hilina Pali Road in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park on May 26, 2023. Throughout the month of May, the truck was generating seismic signals that will help to provide a new detailed view of shallow subsurface structures and the magma system beneath Kīlauea volcano’s summit.

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geophysicists continue performing the annual GPS survey of Mauna Loa. Most Mauna Loa GPS campaign survey sites have been occupied every year since the early 1990s, whereas less active volcanoes Hualālai and Haleakalā are surveyed every 3–5 years.

The Vibroseis truck operating on Hilina Pali Road in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park on May 26, 2023. The vehicle belongs to the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) experimental facility at the University of Texas at Austin, which is supported with funding from the National Science Foundation.

During the annual Mauna Loa GPS campaign, scientists temporarily deploy a number of GPS instruments at established benchmarks; their recorded positions can be compared with those from previous years to discern subtle patterns of ground deformation associated with volcanic activity.

A helicopter overflight on May 23, 2023, allowed for aerial visual and thermal imagery to be collected of Halema‘uma‘u crater at the summit of Kīlauea. No active lava was present in the crater, with only scattered warm spots on the crater floor.

A helicopter overflight on May 23, 2023, allowed for aerial visual and thermal imagery to be collected of Halema‘uma‘u crater at the summit of Kīlauea. No active lava was present in the crater, with only scattered warm spots on the crater floor.

Another GPS survey benchmark being occupied on Mauna Loa. The metal disk on the ground beneath the tripod is the benchmark, which is cemented to the lava flow surface.

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geophysicists are performing the annual GPS survey of Mauna Loa. Most Mauna Loa GPS campaign survey sites have been occupied every year since 1996, whereas less active volcanoes Hualālai and Haleakalā are surveyed every 3–5 years. USGS image by A. Ellis.

Another aerial view of the Vibroseis truck near Maunaulu in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. The truck is generating seismic signals that will help to provide a new detailed view of shallow subsurface structures and the magma system beneath Kīlauea volcano’s summit.

The Vibroseis vehicle has been operating on roads in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park and in the Kīlauea summit region for the past several weeks. The vehicle belongs to the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) experimental facility at the University of Texas at Austin, which is supported with funding from the National Science Foundation.

This aerial view, looking east across Halema‘uma‘u crater floor, shows the complex features formed during recent Kīlauea summit eruptions.

HVO scientists observed no changes to Kīlauea summit during a routine monitoring overflight the morning of May 23, 2023. Mauna Loa is visible in the background of the image. USGS image by K. Mulliken.

Kīlauea summit tiltmeter data (top) and summit GPS daily vertical position data (bottom) shown for the time period January 1, 2020, to May 15, 2023. Summit intrusion and eruption onsets are marked with thin vertical lines and labels. Increased positions and positive slopes in these plots are interpreted as inflation at Kīlauea’s summit. USGS plots.

This photo shows a spiked seismic node, and the tools used to deploy it, in the Hilina Pali area on May 6. USGS scientists use a compass to orient the node so it faces north, while using a level bubble to keep the instrument level when it is spiked into the ground.

USGS scientists deploy a bucket, containing a seismic node, which was set on a hard lava flow surface. There are now about 1,800 seismic nodes deployed around the Kīlauea summit region to record seismic signals for the next three weeks.

On May 3, HVO scientists and collaborators deployed some seismic nodes for the Kīlauea Seismic Imaging Project in the Hilina Pali area of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. Many of the nodes being deployed have spikes on the bottom to secure them into the ground to avoid wind movement, which cause noise in the data they collect.

This week, USGS Volcano Science Center scientists from other locations are helping the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory to deploy the 1,800 seismic nodes (small earthquake-detecting devices) across Kīlauea summit region.