Images

USGS scientists make observations from the edge of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō's current crater. Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō's high point - the northwestern remnant of the original cone that formed in the 1980's - is in the background. This higher ground provides a good perch for some of HVO's webcams, near upper right.

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the flow on August 5 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of August 26 is shown in red. The yellow lines show the active lava tube system. Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō lava flows erupted prior to June 27, 2014, are shown in gray.

Two of three lava flows that raced down the southwest slope of Mauna Loa on June 2, 1950, are shown here. As lava entered the ocean, steaming water marked its offshore course. A semicircular area of hot, turbulent water killed many fish that were seen drifting on currents or washing up on shore over the next few days. Photo courtesy of U.S. Air Force.

Scientists, civil authorities, and emergency managers from Chile and the U.S. met in California to discuss the challenges of effective volcanic hazard education, response planning, hazard mitigation, and risk reduction, as part of the second Bi-national Exchange program for Volcanic Risk Reduction in the Americas.

This volcanic-gas monitoring station installed at Mount St. Helens consists of weather monitoring equipment and sensors for measuring the concentrations of water vapor (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in volcanic gas plumes.

Sediment-laden White River 11 km downstream of the OR35 bridge. Heavy rains resulted in high-sediment loads within this river, which drains Mount Hood, Oregon.

View from the OR35 bridge over the White River looking downstream. Glistening areas are deposits from recent debris flows.

The overflow of Halema‘uma‘u Crater on February 23, 1918. Photo by T.A. Jaggar from the HVO Record Book courtesy of Bishop Museum.

Mount Hood Spectrograms for August 21, 2015.

USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geophysicist Ingrid Johanson measures gravity with a gravimeter on the slope of Mauna Loa with Mauna Kea visible in the background. USGS photo.

Dr. Seth Moran at USGS-Cascades Volcano Observatory

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the flow on July 23 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of August 5 is shown in red. The yellow lines show the active lava tube system. Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō lava flows erupted prior to June 27, 2014, are shown in gray.

This small-scale map shows Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow in relation to the eastern part of the Island of Hawai‘i. The area of the flow on July 23 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of August 5 is shown in red.

Volcanic ash deposit at base of Uwēkahuna Bluff below Jaggar Museum. Photo by T.A. Jaggar on July 29, 1913. Ash deposit buried by lava flow in 1919. Standing man is circled. From HVO Record Book courtesy of Bishop Museum.

Lava flows are scattered across a broad area extending from about 3 to 8 km (2-5 mi) northeast of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. The active flows start just above the horizontal mid-line of the photo, but cannot be picked out easily within the broader inactive flow field due to their distance away in this photo.

High aerial view of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, looking south-southwest. The current crater at Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō is about 280 m (~920 ft) long and 230 m (~755 ft) wide, with a depth of about 25 m (~82 ft). To the west of the crater is another pit 49 m (~161 ft) across that contains a small lava pond.

The pit west of the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater, shown here, is overhung on most sides and may continue to widen with time. The lava pond inside is relatively placid, appearing as a black surface, usually with a few tiny spattering areas along the edge.

An HVO scientist collects a molten lava sample using a rock hammer. Molten lava on the flow field for the last several months has had a temperature usually around 1,140 ?ºC, or just under 2,100 ?ºF, when collected and can blister exposed skin when this close.

Raymond and Whitcomb party "making lava specimens" at Kīlauea in 1893. Photograph by J.J. Williams from the HVO photo archives.

Views into Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō's current crater are often hampered by fume. To overcome this, HVO uses thermal cameras that detect heat and are better able to 'see' through the fume. This image mosaic compares the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō thermal webcamera's view with an oblique aerial photograph to show what the thermal camera is looking at.

The summit lava lake today was at a relatively low level, about 65 meters (210 feet) below the Overlook crater rim, associated with summit deflation. Spattering was active along the lake margins. This photograph shows overflows from April and May (dark lava in bottom portion of photograph) covering the floor of Halema‘uma‘u Crater.