Images

Research projects with the USGS take scientists to beautiful places and Mauna Kea volcano on Hawai‘i Island is no exception. Here is a palila field crew camping site on the north slope of Mauna Kea as the sun sets.  

A faint double rainbow provided a beautiful backdrop for sluggish pāhoehoe lava oozing out from near the flow front this morning.

The flow front remains active and consists of slowly advancing pāhoehoe. There are scattered breakouts along the margins of the flow on the coastal plain and base of the pali. During the overflight today, the flow front was 730 m (0.45 miles) from the ocean.

During early morning field observations, a large breakout of lava near the base of Pūlama Pali (steep fault scarp in background) was visible through fumes from the lava tube and heat shimmer from lava on the coastal plain. The approximate location of the lava tube feeding Kīlauea's active lava flow is visible as degassing sources (white fume) on the pali.

A close up view of the ‘A‘ā channel.

A breakout at the base of the pali viewed by a field crew this morning has formed a channelized ‘A‘ā flow on the steeper portion of the coastal plain.

The active lava flow continues to creep across the coastal plain on Kīlauea's south flank. Breakouts of pāhoehoe (foreground) are fed by lava traveling through lava tubes from the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō vent and down Pūlama pali (top background). USGS photo.

Map of Kīlauea's active lava flow as of July 19, 2016. Red shows the extent of new breakouts since July 8; pink shows the flow prior as of July 8, and gray shows areas covered by earlier Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō lava flows (1983-2016).

The HVO field crew mapped new breakouts on the lava flow by recording GPS points along the active flow margin.

Tina Neal, HVO Scientist-in-Charge from 2015–2020 ends her tenure on June 19, 2020.

A long, hot hike was not needed to see red lava today. Vigorous spattering from Kīlauea Volcano's summit lava lake was visible from the Jaggar Museum Overlook in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park as of this afternoon. The lava lake surface, measured at 25 m (82 ft) below the vent rim this morning, was high enough for the spattering to be seen from afar.

Kīlauea Volcano's lava flow remains active, with pāhoehoe lobes, like the one shown here, slowly advancing on the coastal plain. Breakouts upslope of the leading edge continue to widen the flow margins. Today, the active flow front was approximately 850 m (0.5 miles) from the ocean, and 720 m (0.4 miles) from the road.

A zoomed-in view of the lava lake spattering.

The large hole on the northeast flank of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō remains open, providing a view of forked lava streams. Since the last overflight on Friday, July 15, the lava streams have started to crust over, reducing the glow in the pit.

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the active flow field as of July 8 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the active flow as mapped on July 19 is shown in red. Older Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō lava flows (1983-2016) are shown in gray.

The flow remains active on the pali and coastal plain, with scattered breakouts of pāhoehoe lava. Over the past week, however, the leading tip of the flow has advanced only a short distance. Today, the flow front was 850 m (0.5 miles) from the ocean. In this photograph, the current lava flow is the lighter color area in the center of the photo.

Only a few short sections of road in Royal Gardens subdivision remain uncovered by lava. In this kipuka, about 200 m (220 yards) of Orchid Street is still exposed.

This photograph looks downslope at the uppermost section of the Episode 61g flow. The vent is in the lower left corner of the photo. Several collapses have occurred over the lava tube, and the trace of the tube can be seen by the fuming sources extending downslope.

This map is a georeferenced thermal image mosaic showing the distribution of active and recently active breakouts on the Pūlama pali and coastal plain. The thermal images were collected during a helicopter overflight on July 15. The episode 61g flow field as mapped on July 8 is outlined in yellow to show how the flow has changed.

The flow front remains active on the coastal plain, but has only moved about 60 m (~200 ft) closer to the ocean in the past three days. As of midday on July 15, the slow-moving pahoehoe is roughly 870 m (~0.5 mi) from the ocean. Activity upslope continues to widen the flow margins. The light gray surface in this image is the new pahoehoe of the 61G flow.

Aerial view of the Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park Coastal Ranger Station at the end of Chain of Craters Road with the active lava flow (61G) in the distance. Correlative thermal image highlighting the hot, active flow at the top portion of the photo (right).