Multimedia Gallery

Compilation of three short videos from helicopter overflights of the ...

Helicopter overflight of lower East Rift Zone ocean entry and fissure complex on May 23, 2018, around 8:00 AM HST.

This footage is from an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) hovering near ...

A blue burning flame of methane gas was observed in the cracks on Kahukai Street during the overnight hours. When lava buries plants and shrubs, methane gas is produced as a byproduct of burning vegetation. Methane gas can seep into subsurface voids and explode when heated, or as shown in this video, emerge from cracks in the ground several feet away from the lava. When ignited, the methane...

This video was filmed on May 21, 2018, with a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle). Limited UAV flights above the hazardous Kīlauea summit area, which is currently too dangerous for geologists to enter for ground observations, are conducted with permission from the National Park Service. The overflights collect visual information on what is happening at this rapidly changing ...

A helicopter overflight of Kīlauea Volcano's lower East Rift Zone shows the interaction of lava and seawater to produce a...

Lava spatter and splashing build cones at ...

Fissure fountains feed ...

Video of a slow moving lava flow in Kīlauea Volcano's lower East Rift Zone, taken May 20, 2018, at around 2:31 AM HST. The flow is ~3 m (9 ft) high. The HVO scientist mapping the flow...

Fountaining from Fissure 20 on May 19, 2018, around 3:47 PM, HST.

Spattering and lava flow along north side of ...

Spattering and lava flow at ...

Helicopter overflight of a fast-moving lava flow emerging from ...

Telephoto view of spattering at Fissure 17, in Kīlauea Volcano's lower...

Spattering at Fissure 17 around 12:30 AM HST, on May 18, 2018. The...

For the past several days, intermittent small explosions have occurred at the west end of ...

Aerial view (from a helicopter) of spattering between fissures 16 and...

This video shows spattering at fissure 18, Kīlauea Volcano's Lower...

Aerial view of fissure 17 around 4:30 p.m. HST. On the west end of the flow, intermittent percussive jetting threw spatter and lava bombs up to 500 feet above the ground. East margin of the ‘a‘ā flow was cascading into a pit or graben.

Fissure 16 eruption at 12:57 p.m. HST on May 12, 2018. Video by Cheryl Gansecki, University of Hawaii.

Good weather provided clear views into Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater. The crater floor collapsed on April 30 as magma drained to the east along the East Rift Zone. Based on a 3D model constructed from thermal images, the deepest part of the crater was 350 m (1150 ft) below the crater rim.

Aerial view of fissure 13 shortly after it opened this afternoon. The spattering fissure cut across Leilani Street, between Kahukai and Pohoiki Road.

The summit lava lake in Halema‘uma‘u crater has dropped substantially over the past week due to ...

Aerial view of fissure 12 at 1:15pm HST today. Bursting gas bubbles blasted spatter (bits of molten lava) skyward, with some fragments reaching as hight as the tree tops. This fissure opened in the forest south of Malama Street in Leilani Estates.

This video of Halema‘uma‘u lava lake from this evening shows the agitated lake surface caused by intemittent rock falls. Falling rocks are common since the ...

Lava moving down Makamae Street in Leilani Estates at 9:32 a.m. on May 6, 2018.

Fissure eruption on Luana Road, between Leilani and Malama, in the Leilani Estates subdivision, at 9:37 p.m. HST on May 5, 2018. Fountains reached heights of up to 100 m (about 330 feet)

Fissure 2 opened around 1:00 a.m. HST on Friday, May 4, with a small area of spattering in a residential driveway. Within an hour the spattering was more vigorous, with spatter reaching about 30 meters (100 feet). This spatter was thrown over the power lines and landed on Makamae Street.

Fissure 3 opened around 6:00 a.m. HST on Friday, May 4, with weak fuming from a crack on Kaupili Street. This fuming increased, as did rumbling sounds. Eventually spatter was ejected and accumulated around the fissure. Large, loud bubble bursts were common at this fissure.

This small fissure = opened in the Leilani Estates subdivision on the lower East Rift Zone of Kilauea Volcano around 5:00 p.m. Lava erupted from the fissure until about 6:30pm, when it became inactive.

This time-lapse video from 7:30 p.m. April 25 to 7:30 p.m. April 26 shows Halema‘uma‘u lava lake producing intermittent overflows onto the crater floor. The largest of these flows was from approximately 6:15 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on April 26 and covered about 90 acres (2/3) of the crater floor.

Vigorous overflows from Kīlauea's summit lava lake covered a large portion of the floor of Halema‘uma‘u this morning. In this video, the view starts from the north and heads south, showing the north and east sides...

On Kīlauea Volcano's summit, the Halema‘uma‘u lava lake's high standing lake level produced intermittent overflows onto the crater floor. Smaller overflows and spattering have started to build a few discontinuous...

Cave diving scientist David Brankovits from the USGS and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and DSO Jake Emmert (Moody Gardens) recover the OPP water sampling device designed and engineered by Emile Bergeron (USGS). The OPP collects samples across a chemical interface where bacteria entrain methane -- a dissolved gas -- into the food web. The OPP is powered by compressed gas and is able to...

Exciting polar bear cam b-roll footage from the bear’s perspective from 2014, 2015, and 2016. The USGS Alaska Science Center Polar Bear Research Project conducts long-term research on polar bears to inform, local, state, national and international policy makers regarding conservation and management of the species and its habitat. The USGS’s studies are primarily focused on polar bear...

Instagram story showing the USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab clearing invasive species from a field.

The USGS and its cooperators have installed debris-flow monitoring equipment in the largest drainage basin at Chalk Cliffs, CO. Data collection at this site supports research on the hydrologic factors that control debris-flow initiation, entrainment, and flow dynamics.

This debris flow took place July 19, 2017. The video includes a single view of an instrumented reach of the channel. A...

See the actual drone footage at: https://www.usgs.gov/media/videos/prescribed-burn-tall-timbers-research-...

Footage of drone during a prescribed fire at Tall Timbers Research Station, Tallahassee, Florida (April 19, 2017).

On February 24, 2017, Nick Stasulis (Data Section Chief of the USGS New England Water Science Center, Maine Office) met with police and fire officials from the City of Bangor and surrounding communities to ride along with the US Coast Guard on the ice breaker Bridle. Along with Bridle, ice breaker Tackle worked to clear ice on the Penobscot River in preparation for spring runoff. Clearing ice...

The June 2016 Fish Fire burned over 12 km^2 in Los Angeles County, California. After the fire, the USGS installed an automated rain-triggered camera to monitor post-wildfire flooding and debris flow in a small canyon above the Las Lomas debris basin in Duarte. This video shows the peak flow triggered by an intense rainstorm on January 20, 2017.
 

The new Great Salt Lake breach was opened on Dec. 1 by the Union Pacific Railroad Company. This created a new opening between the north and the south arm of the lake, allowing water to flow between the two sides. This time-lapse video shows the breach opening, which took about two hours. Before the new breach was opened, the north arm of the Great Salt Lake was at an historic low. Water had...

All clips show the deck of a barge in San Pablo Bay, California.

• Clip 1 - USGS technicians lower and raise a grab sampler
• Clips 2, 3, 4 - USGS technicians lower and raise a vibracore
• Clip 5 - Tanker passes as USGS technicians work on anchor lines
• Clip 6 - USGS technicians raise anchor, while another works on a vibracore tube
• Clip 7 - USGS
...

Watch as the USGS Hammond Bay Biological Station water tank and pump house are constructed from the ground up! This short video features time lapse photography of the 1-million gallon water tank and pump house constructed to supply water to a state-of-the-art aquatic science laboratory. Laboratory construction will occur over the next several years and will also be chronicled with time lapse...

Permanent Site: E2 West Transect; Depth: 14.6 Meters (47.8 Feet); Distance from river mouth: 0.9 Kilometers (0.5 Miles) east; Pre/Post Dam Removal: 5 years post-dam removal; Lat/Long: 48.15653002, -123.56197605; Site Description: This is one of our deeper sites. Substrate is mainly gravel/cobble with scattered boulders. A few small red and brown seaweeds, mainly acid kelp Desmarestia spp. (0:...

Permanent Site: E2 East Transect; Depth: 14.3 Meters (46.8 Feet); Distance from river mouth: 0.9 Kilometers (0.5 Miles) east; Pre/Post Dam Removal: 5 years post-dam removal; Lat/Long: 48.15653002,-123.56130401; Site Description: This is one of our deeper sites. Substrate is mainly gravel/cobble with an occasional boulder. A few brown acid kelps (Desmarestia spp. at 0:06 seconds) and red...

Permanent Site: J1 West Transect; Depth: 9.8 Meters (32.3 Feet); Distance from river mouth: 6.6 Kilometers (4.1 Miles) east; Pre/Post Dam Removal: 5 years post-dam removal; Lat/Long: 48.13607725,-123.48002186; Site Description: This site is medium depth. Substrate is mainly a gravel/sand mixture. Both red (0:25 seconds) and brown seaweed growth is dense and appears to be at pre-dam removal...

Permanent Site: D2 West Transect; Depth: 12.8 Meters (41.9 Feet); Distance from river mouth: 0.3 Kilometers (0.2 Miles); Pre/Post Dam Removal: 5 years post-dam removal Lat/Long: 48.15233001,-123.56896603; Site Description: This site is right off the mouth of the river. Substrate is mainly gravel with some cobble. Dead clam shells are scattered everywhere (2:14 seconds). Small woody debris is...