Images

A breakout from the lava tube has also been active on the upper part of the flow field near Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō since December 5. The smoke is from a narrow finger of lava burning lichen on an older Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō lava flow. Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō is at upper right. The view is to the south-southwest.

This map uses a satellite image acquired in March 2014 (provided by Digital Globe) as a base to show the area around the front of Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow. The area of the flow on December 19 at 8:30 AM is shown in pink, while advancement of the flow as mapped on December 22 at 3:00 PM is shown in red.

This photo shows a closer view of the picturesque breakout at the narrow section of the flow.

This compares a normal photograph of the active flow front with a thermal image. The white box shows the rough extent of the thermal image. In the thermal image, white and yellow pixels show areas of active breakouts. The thermal image shows that small breakouts are present near the leading tip of the flow, and that many other breakouts are active upslope.

Breakouts were also active much farther upslope. Leaks from the lava tube near the True/Mid-Pacific geothermal well site (at left) have been active for a couple of weeks, and are slowly invading forest to the north. View is to the west-southwest.

This large-scale map shows the distal part of Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow in relation to nearby Puna communities. The area of the flow on December 19 at 8:30 AM is shown in pink, while advancement of the flow as mapped on December 22 at 3:00 PM is shown in red.

Kīlauea's East Rift Zone lava flow remains active upslope from the Pahoa Marketplace area, visible at upper left, though activity has waned over the past week. The flow was very close to a firebreak road cut several months ago. The Pahoa Transfer Station is at upper right. The view is to the southeast.

A small, but fairly vigorous, breakout was active this afternoon about 1 km (0.6 miles) behind the tip of the flow. This is the narrowest part of the flow, with a width of about 30 m (33 yards). The smoke in the distance is from surface lava near the front of the flow. The view is to the northeast.

This satellite image was captured on Friday, December 19, by the Advanced Land Imager instrument onboard NASA's Earth Observing 1 satellite. Although this is a false-color image, the color map has been chosen to mimic what the human eye would expect to see. Bright red pixels depict areas of very high temperatures and show active lava. White areas are clouds.

This map uses a satellite image acquired in March 2014 (provided by Digital Globe) as a base to show the area around the front of Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow. The area of the flow on December 18 at 11:15 AM is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as mapped on December 19 at 8:30 AM is shown in red

Kīlauea's East Rift Zone lava flow continues to advance downslope toward the Pahoa Marketplace. This photo is of a small breakout from the edge of the inflated flow several hundred meters (yards) back from the active front.

This photo gives the general appearance of the surface of the flow, looking upslope, where the flow is narrower on slightly steeper terrain. It is normal for trees within the flow path to not burn after they topple. By the time the trees fall over, the surface crust of the flow has cooled below their ignition temperature.

This large-scale map shows the distal part of Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow in relation to nearby Puna communities. The area of the flow on December 16 at 11:15 AM is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as mapped on December 18 at 11:15 AM is shown in red.

This photo looks downslope towards Highway 130. The leading tip of the flow has widened over the past few days, and branched into two fingers - both of which are heading in the same general northeast direction.

In addition to active surface lava at the leading tip of the flow, breakouts were active about 2 km (1.2 miles) upslope of the leading tip. These breakouts were scattered and feeding several small lobes.

Even farther upslope, in the area of ground cracks, there were two small breakouts burning vegetation on the north margin of the flow. This photograph looks west, and Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō can be seen on the horizon.

Kīlauea Volcano's active lava flow, shown here on December 12, continues to advance toward the community of Pāhoa. Updates on this lava flow will be included in several presentations offered during Volcano Awareness Month in January 2015. See https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/observatories/hvo/ for details.

Still farther upslope, about 3 km (roughly 2 miles) northeast of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, scattered breakouts were active.

A comparison of a normal photograph and a thermal image showing an HVO geologist collecting an active lava sample. The lava is quenched in the bucket of water. Lava samples like this are routinely collected for chemical analysis, which provides insight into the magmatic system feeding the eruption.

This map uses a satellite image acquired in March 2014 (provided by Digital Globe) as a base to show the area around the front of Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow. The area of the flow on December 16 at 11:15 AM is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as mapped on December 18 at 11:15 AM is shown in red

Preview image for video: provides a brief aerial overview of the active flow front.