Images

The breakout from the upper flow field that began earlier this month is still active, with flows currently moving through the upper portion of the mostly-buried Royal Gardens subdivision. On the left is a conventional photograph, and on the right is a view with a thermal camera covering a similar area.

SP Crater and lava flow (dark area to right of cinder cone) in the northern part of San Francisco Volcanic Field, Arizona.

Flows remain active above the pali, near the top of the mostly-buried Royal Gardens subdivision. The slowly advancing pāhoehoe toes had a silver appearance in the bright sun today.

A lava pond, about 30 m (100 ft) wide, has been active for several months within a collapse pit in the northeast portion of the floor of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater. This thermal camera image shows the lava pond within the pit, as viewed from the east rim of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō.

Chaos Jumbles (foreground) is a rockfall avalanche that formed around 340 years ago when one of the Chaos Crags domes (background) collapsed.

The breakout that began early last week remains active. On today's overflight, a broad area of active pāhoehoe flows was mapped, with the farthest makai lobe (lower left) just touching the top of Royal Gardens subdivision, near the buried intersection of Warrior and `Ekaha streets.

This thermal camera view from the helicopter looks upslope (northwest), and shows the two main breakouts that are southeast of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. The western breakout was nearly stalled, and most of the activity was focused at the front of the eastern breakout. Both breakouts consisted of pāhoehoe flows.

A view from the helicopter of the lava pond in the east collapse pit within Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater. The pit enlarged substantially last week as the lava pond dropped during a deflation phase. Though the lava level has risen since that time, it remains deep within the collapse pit.

This thermal camera view from the helicopter shows the current configuration of activity within Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater. The view is towards the east. The east pit has hosted an active, circulating lava pond for several months now. The south pit enlarged to its current size just last Thursday (Aug. 30), and has two pads of active lava within it.

Surface lava flows on the coastal plain and pali died out over Labor Day weekend with summit deflation, and new breakouts appeared on Sunday, September 2, farther upslope with the resumption of summit inflation. The new breakouts, which are modest in size and vigor, are above the top of the pali, about 4 km (2.5 miles) southeast of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō.

Surface flows remain active on the pali and coastal plain, but have not made significant progress towards the ocean. On today's field visit, the closest flows to the ocean were about 2 km (1.2 miles) from the water. This image shows a pāhoehoe breakout at the flow front, with a rigid ropy section of crust being carried forward by the flowing lava beneath it.

Technology today: Geologist working at a Global Positioning System station on Mount St. Helens, Washington.

This false-color image was captured on August 19 by NASA's Earth Observing 1 satellite using the Advanced Land Imager sensor. The image consists of several near-infrared and shortwave infrared channels combined in such a way as to mimic those colors expected by the human eye, with vegetation green, lava flow fields black and active surface lava flows as red.

A conference this week in Waikōloa will examine how Hawaiian volcanoes work, from their source deep within the Earth to the eruption of gas and lava at the surface. The conference is hosted by the American Geophysical Union and organized by scientists from the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo.

The USGS, in collaboration with UNAVCO and the University of Colorado, uses these data to measure channel erosion and deposition in the reach.

220 kV transmission lines running adjacent to Tongariro Volcano, New Zealand, two days after the 6 August 2012 Te Māri crater eruption.

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory's Recent Earthquakes Web page from Tuesday, July 31, with earthquake shown as colored circles, according to their times of occurrence.

Photo taken north of Mount St. Helens; view is to the south.

This image is a composite of a thermal image and a normal photograph, showing the coastal plain and pali. Red areas are warm portions of the flow field that were active in the past weeks or months, while yellow and white areas are areas of active breakouts.

The lava pond in the northeast portion of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater remains active, though the level of lava was low in the pit today. Over this past weekend, a small collapse of the rim enlarged the pit slightly. The lava pond is about 30 meters (100 feet) wide.

Andesite lava flow of Kerr Notch (near Sun Creek) developed columnar joints as it cooled after it was deposited, Crater Lake, Oregon.