Images

View of south part of western side of Nuʻutele Island, off the west coast of Ofu Island in the Manuʻa Islands, American Samoa. Nuʻutele Island is an eroded tuff cone of Ofu-Olosega volcano. A tuff cone can form when magma and water interact at shallow depths, causing localized explosions.

View of part of the tuff cone which contains both Faleāsao village and Faleasao Harbor from the northwest part of Taʻū Island, American Samoa. A tuff cone can form when magma and water interact at shallow depths, causing localized explosions.

A Raspberry Shake seismometer was installed at Fitiʻuta Elementary School on Taʻū Island on August 13, 2022, to provide initial data on the swarm of earthquakes that started on the Manuʻa Islands around July 26, 2022.

A Raspberry Shake seismometer was installed at Fitiʻuta Elementary School on Taʻū Island on August 13, 2022, to provide initial data on the swarm of earthquakes that started on the Manuʻa Islands around July 26, 2022.

Plots showing Mauna Loa ground deformation and earthquake monitoring data between midnight August 1 and midnight August 3, 2022. The top panel shows ground tilt in microradians at station MOK, on the northwest side of Mauna Loa’s summit caldera. A histogram showing the number of located earthquakes that occurred per hour is shown in the middle panel.

Map showing located earthquakes below Mauna Loa summit region between midnight August 1 and midnight August 3, 2022. Orange earthquakes are below sea level whereas red earthquakes are above sea level; earthquakes are sized by magnitude.  

This reference map depicts the ongoing Kīlauea summit eruption on August 8, 2022. One eruptive vent (orange) is active within Halema‘uma‘u, on the western side of the crater floor. An adjacent pond (purple) is feeding lava to a larger lake (red) via a crusted-over tube.

KWcam image taken on August 5, 2022, just after 9:30 a.m. HST. This image shows the ongoing eruption within Halemaʻumaʻu crater at the summit of Kīlauea. The eruption began the afternoon of September 29, 2021, as fissures in the floor of the crater; this activity is generating a lava lake that is slowly filling the crater.

Recent Sentinel-1 interferogram for the period from June 7 to July 13, 2022 covering the Island of Hawai‘i. Each color fringe represents 2.83 centimeters (1.11 inches) of ground displacement. There is evidence for a few millimeters of inflation at Mauna Loa, and no noteworthy deformation at Kīlauea during this time span.

Uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) flights on August 4, 2022, allowed for aerial visual and thermal imagery to be collected of Halema‘uma‘u crater at the summit of Kīlauea. The active lake surface is limited to the western portion of the crater.

Uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) flights on August 4, 2022, allowed for aerial visual and thermal imagery to be collected of Halema‘uma‘u crater at the summit of Kīlauea. The active lake surface is limited to the western portion of the crater.

An aerial view of the recent eruption on Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland, taken during an eruption surveillance flight. Lava erupts from the fissure on the northern edge of the 2021 eruption flow field (black lava in upper right). The blue-tinged volcanic gas emissions are one of the main hazards associated with this eruption.

Earthquakes in oceanic environments can generate pressure waves that travel long distances within the ocean itself. Much like seismographs record ground shaking, this energy is recorded by submerged hydrophones measuring pressure changes in water.

Telephoto view of the active lava lake within Halema‘uma‘u, at the summit of Kīlauea. During an eruption monitoring shift on July 29, 2022, spattering was observed along the eastern margin of the active lake. Additionally, crustal plates (darker pieces within the silvery active lava lake) were observed forming and breaking apart. USGS photo by J.M. Chang.

Telephoto view of the west vent in Halema‘uma‘u, at the summit of Kīlauea, on July 29, 2022. Two small areas of incandescent orange glow can be seen on the south side of the cone. USGS photo by J.M. Chang.

Photo of Halema‘uma‘u, at the summit of Kīlauea, taken on July 29, 2022, from the southwest rim. Abundant fumes can be seen coming from the west vent, on the far left side of the photo. The west vent continues to feed the active lava lake, which is the silver-colored area to the east (right) of the west vent. USGS photo by J.M. Chang.

A view of the Airborne Electromagnetic and Magnetic (AEM) survey over Kaluapele—Kīlauea summit caldera—taken from Uēkahuna overlook in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. The loop system below the helicopter transmits weak, low-frequency radio waves into the ground and measures the Earth response as well as passively detects variations in the Earth’s magnetic field.

Telephoto view of the Airborne Electromagnetic and Magnetic (AEM) survey helicopter flying over Kīlauea caldera on July 28, 2022. Photograph by Ray Crum. 

Another telephoto view of the Airborne Electromagnetic and Magnetic (AEM) survey, taken as the helicopter traversed over Halema‘uma‘u crater floor, at Kīlauea summit. This photo was taken from Uēkahuna overlook within Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, and helicopter and loop are visible in the center left of the image.

Telephoto image of helicopter flying the Airborne Electromagnetic and Magnetic (AEM) survey over Kīlauea caldera on July 28, 2022. The walls of Kīlauea caldera are visible in the background of the image. Photograph by Ray Crum.

This morning, July 28, the USGS-Hawaiian Volcano Observatory flew the Airborne Electromagnetic and Magnetic (AEM) survey over Kaluapele—Kīlauea summit caldera—within Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. A helicopter flew about 120-175 ft above the ground in a grid-like pattern with a 40-ft horizontal loop suspended 35 ft below it.