Images

A view of the flow front from the ground, showing the pāhoehoe lava slowly moving through thick vegetation and creating thick plumes of smoke. Frequent methane explosions were occurring. These result from the cooked vegetation releasing methane, which then ignites.

A vertical view of the lava upslope from the flow front covering the dirt road.

A wider view of the flow front, showing its proximity to AP‘A‘ā St. and the transfer station. The vent for the June 27th lava flow is on Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō cone, which can be seen in the upper right portion of the photograph. The residential area in the lower left corner is in the western portion of Pāhoa.

A closer view of the flow front from the air, showing the narrow lobe of lava moving along the dirt road. Kaohe Homesteads is in the left side of the photograph. Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō can be seen in the upper right.

An HVO geologist marks the coordinates of the flow front with a GPS unit.

Another view of the flow front, showing the numerous smoke plumes arising from active breakouts burning vegetation at the flow margin. Kaohe Homesteads is in the left side of the photograph.

A comparison of a normal photograph of the flow front with a thermal image. The white box shows the approximate extent of the thermal image. The thermal image shows that active breakouts (white and yellow areas) are focused along the narrow lobe at the leading edge of the flow, but are also scattered for about 2 km (1.2 miles) behind the flow front.

HVO geologists walk over the surface of the flow to track surface breakouts along a portion of the flow margin, about a kilometer (0.6 miles) upslope of the flow front.

This satellite image was captured 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 small-scale map shows the June 27th lava flow in Kīlauea's East Rift Zone in relation to lower Puna. The area of the flow on October 17, 2014, at 7:40 AM is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as mapped on October 20 at 1:00 PM is shown in red.

Upslope from the flow front, several breakouts are active around the crack system. These surface flows (marked by the smoke plumes) have filled in a ground crack that is immediately north of another crack. The southern crack, marked by the white dotted line, is the main crack that lava is traveling along below the surface.

Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Crater remains filled with thick fume, but recent views with the naked eye and thermal camera confirm that little change has occurred in the crater over recent weeks. The fume masks a handful of small incandescent openings on the crater floor.

The June 27th lava flow remains active, with no significant advancement of the flow front since Friday, Oct 17. The flow is active along the northern boundary of Kaohe Homesteads subdivision, with brush fires along the flow margins creating thick plumes of smoke.

A collapse of rock from the wall of Halema‘uma‘u Crater occurred yesterday (Sunday, October 19) around 1:15 am, with rocks impacting the lake and triggering an explosion of spatter. The scar left by this collapse is visible as the light-colored area marked in the photo.

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 the June 27th lava flow. The area of the flow on October 17, 2014, at 7:40 AM is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as mapped on October 20 at 1:00 PM is shown in red.

This large-scale map shows the distal part of the June 27th flow in relation to nearby Puna communities. The area of the flow on October 17, 2014, at 7:40 AM is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as mapped on October 20 at 1:00 PM is shown in red.

A comparison of a normal photograph of the flow front with a thermal image. Although the leading edge of the flow has advanced only a slight amount over the past week (about 100 m, or 110 yards), active portions behind the flow front have moved at a faster rate.

Preview image for video: shows the small explosion of spatter that occurred at Halema‘uma‘u on Sunday, October 19. Spatter landed around the Halema‘uma‘u Overlook (closed to the public).

A closer look at the flow front, showing the leading edge moving through thick vegetation.

Another view of the flow front, looking downslope towards Pāhoa. The smoke plumes are created by individual breakouts burning vegetation at the flow margin.

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 the June 27th lava flow. The area of the flow on October 15, 2014, at 10:30 AM is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as mapped on October 17 at 7:40 AM is shown in red.