Images

The Kamokuna ocean entry and lava delta remain active, with no obvious changes over the past week. The large coast-parallel crack that spans the width of the delta (seen from lower-left to upper-right of image) remains prominent, and highlights the instability of the delta.

A beautiful sunset over Mauna Loa (in distance at left) provided a backdrop to the lava lake within Halema‘uma‘u. HVO and Jaggar Museum are on the horizon near the center of the panorama.

Crustal foundering, in which pieces of the thin, flexible lake crust sink beneath the surface, is common in the southern portion of the lake.

Kīlauea Volcano's Kamokuna ocean entry photographed on May 23, 2017 (left) and July 13, 2017 (right) show how lava flowing from the tube has both widened and thickened the delta. Near the sea cliff, the delta appears to have doubled in thickness over the past seven weeks, creating a distinctly sloped surface from the base of the cliff to the sea.

Inverted funnel connected to thermoplastic tubing used to collect gas from a hot spring pool near Lassen Peak, California.

Geologists visiting the June 26 breakout today (July 13) found the front (pictured) stalled with no active lava visible. There has been no significant advancement of the flow front since July 8, and is still 2.2 km (1.4 miles) from the road.

This video clip (at x30 speed) shows the pāhoehoe breakouts on the coastal plain.

There have been no major changes at the Kamokuna ocean entry or lava delta. The delta remains unstable, with a large crack (noted earlier this week) that spans the entire width of the delta.

"Geologic map of the northeast flank of Mauna Loa volcano, Island of Hawai‘i," published by the U.S. Geological Survey in May 2017, shows the distribution of lava flows and other deposits covering an area from Pu‘u‘Ula‘ula ("Red Hill") on the southwest to Hilo on the northeast.

Spattering is common in the summit lava lake in Halema‘uma‘u Crater. This afternoon, spattering was active at a site along the east lake margin. Spatter deposits have built a small ledge extending out from the crater walls (lower right of photo), onto which fluid spatter often falls.

A view of the outgassing plume produced by the summit lava lake. The photo was taken from Uēkahuna Bluff, near HVO and the National Park Service Jaggar Museum.

A wider view of the lava lake in the Overlook crater, taken from the rim of Halema‘uma‘u Crater (closed to the public due to volcanic hazards).

This image shows a comparison of a normal photograph (left) with a thermal image (right) of the lava delta. The cracks spanning the delta, and the warm water plumes extending out from the entry point, are evident in the thermal image.

The June 26 breakout remains active at the flow front, which can be distinguished by the light silver color at the bottom-center of the photo.

A zoomed in view of the Kamokuna lava delta reveals several crack systems parallel to the sea cliff which suggests instability of the delta. Over the past few weeks, flows on the delta have built up the surface near the base of the cliff creating a slope seaward.

Campaign GPS antenna on Kīlauea's south flank at Pu‘ukapukapu inside Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park during the 2019 Kīlauea GPS campaign. View is to the southwest along the Kīlauea Volcano coastline. 

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the active flow field as of June 21 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the active flow as of July 10 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.

This video clip gives a view of the ocean entry and the cracks on the lava delta.

This video shows timelapse images of active pāhoehoe toes near the base of the pali.

During the March 2011 Kamoamoa fissure eruption on Kīlauea Volcano's East Rift Zone, spatter from this line of lava fountains just west of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō reached heights of 40 m (130 ft).

A breakout that started June 26 on the upper pali is now advancing across the coastal plain. The flow front has advanced approximately 500 m (0.3 miles) from the base of the pali, and was about 2.7 km (1.7 miles) from the emergency road this morning.