Images

Tina Neal responding to Kīlauea’s Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō eruption in November of 1983. At that time, USGS personal protective equipment standards differed.

Map showing the extent of lava flows erupted during Kīlauea's ongoing east rift zone eruption and labeled with the years in which they were active.

Map showing the extent of lava flows erupted during Kīlauea's ongoing east rift zone eruption and labeled with the years in which they were active.

Advancing surface flows reached the base of the Pūlama pali over the past few days, burning through one of the few remaining forested kipuka in the abandoned Royal Gardens subdivision. The white line marks the outline of the active flows.

Closer view of lava flows cascading down onto the coastal plain at the base of the Pūlama pali. A remnant section of Orchid Street is visible just above the center of the image.

Shaded relief is taken from airborne LiDAR data. Snowfields are not labeled except for Palmer, which is a recognized feature. It is not a glacier although it is labeled such on some maps.

Crater Lake caldera rim view to north. Pumice Castle, orange spire in center right, a near-vent deposit formed by 71ka Plinian tephra-fall deposit; cliff to left is Redcloud Cliff lava flow.

View of ripples caused by wind winnowing of the Huckleberry Ridge Tuff fall deposits at Mount Everts. Other layers below show evidence for rain and hail landing with the falling ash. Scale in centimeters and inches.

Map showing the extent of lava flows erupted during Kīlauea's ongoing east rift zone eruption and labeled with the years in which they were active.

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.

The lava pond in the northeast portion of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater remains active, with persistent spattering at the pond margins and a slowly migrating lava surface. A time-lapse camera mounted on a tripod on the rim (left edge of photo) provides a sense of scale.

A small skylight has been open for several weeks on the upper tube system, just southeast of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, providing a view of the lava stream within the lava tube. The lava rushing through the tube here is supplying the active surface flows shown in the image above this one.

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 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.

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.