Images

Today, two recent breakouts (lighter in color) were visible on the steeper portion of the pali. The western breakout (left of the kipuka) started on August 27 from the 61g tube, and has started to advance onto the coastal plain. To the east (right) of the kipuka is a smaller surface flow that is a part of the larger June 26 breakout.

Telephoto view of some of the pāhoehoe lava channels from the surface activity of the June 26 breakout.

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the active flow field as of August 9 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the active flow as of September 1 is shown in red. Older Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō lava flows (1983-2016) are shown in gray. The yellow line is the trace of the active lava tube.

Lava continues to enter the ocean at the Kamokuna ocean entry with many small lava streams near the front of the delta. On August 19, there was a breakout approximately 120 m (394 ft) away from the edge of the sea cliff that lasted for approximately 9.5 hours.

The east side of Mount Rainier, as viewed from Panhandle Gap.

Example of the Keanakāko‘i Tephra sequence exposed on the southeast side of Kīlauea Volcano's summit caldera showing some of the identified units labeled with the revised nomenclature scheme. USGS photo by D. Swanson.

USGS geologist Don Swanson (right) explains Keanakāko‘i Tephra stratigraphy exposed near the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory to scientists who visited Kīlauea during a Geological Society of America field trip in May 2017. USGS photo by T. Neal.

USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory field engineers begin the process of lowering a tiltmeter into a deep borehole on the west flank of Mauna Loa. The installation is guided by a custom-built apparatus that includes a 3-D printed jig. This tiltmeter will help monitor the currently elevated activity of Mauna Loa Volcano. USGS photo.

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the active flow field as of August 9 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the active flow as of August 20 is shown in red. Older Puʻu ʻŌʻō lava flows (1983-2016) are shown in gray. The yellow line is the trace of the active lava tube.

On Saturday, August 19 at 04:10 HST a breakout that started 120 m (394 ft) up-slope of the ocean entry, began to spill over the sea cliff and onto the delta. The lava fall was located to the west of the ramp (tubed-over firehose), and produced a small ‘A‘ā flow on the western portion of the delta.

A telephoto image of the spatter deposit produced by the August 19 littoral explosions at the lava delta. When ejected, the spatter was thrown much higher than the height of the sea cliff which is approximately 28 m (92 ft). The flying debris is just one of the many hazards at an ocean entry.

At 9:35 pm HST on August 19, there was a large littoral explosion near the front of the delta (left). Another smaller explosion was seen 5 minutes later. These explosions are typically caused by mixing of cool sea water and hot lava. The August 19 explosions were not followed by obvious delta subsidence or collapse, something we have seen in the past.

Between August 19-22, 2017, 140 seismometers were deployed around Mount St. Helens. Instruments were placed on top of the 2004-2008 lava dome, the 1980-86 lava dome, the 1980 crater floor, and around the volcanic cone.

Map of lava flows erupted from Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō since 1983. Gray color shows area covered by lava flows erupted from many different vents between 1983 and June 2014. Pink shows the area covered by the June 27th flow between June 2014 and June 2016. Red shows the area covered by the 61g flow between May 2016 and August 9, 2017.

Mount St. Helens, as viewed from the Castle Lake Overlook.

The flow front of the June 26 breakout (pictured above) has stalled. On the coastal plain today, the closest active breakouts found by HVO geologists were 2.1 km (1.3 miles) upslope from the emergency route. There were a few areas of active pāhoehoe breakouts which varied from sluggish ropey textures to thin and fluid flows.

Cracks on the Kamokuna lava delta continue to develop. These photos from July 31 (left) and today, August 15 (right), highlight changes on the delta during the past two weeks. The yellow numbers mark a few prominent features on the delta (1 & 3) and older sea cliff (2 & 4).

This map is similar to the map above but shows a thermal map over the Episode 61g lava flow. Cooler colors (blue and green) show cooled, inactive portions of the flow surface. Hot colors (red and orange) show areas of active surface breakouts.

Side-by-side images from the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory's Thermal Web Camera (HTcam) located on the rim of Halema‘uma‘u before (left) and after (right) lava veneer from the vent wall fell into the lake on July 28, 2017. The collapse scar is circled at right.

While mapping the flow margins, HVO geologists found an opening into an old lava tube system that has been partly filled with episode 61g lava. Most of the cooled lava cascades were intact and sitting on top of rubble from the caved-in roof of the abandoned tube.

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the active flow field as of July 10 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the active flow as of August 9 is shown in red. Older Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō lava flows (1983-2016) are shown in gray. The yellow line is the trace of the active lava tube.