Images

View toward the southeast of lava erupting from a spatter cone on the northeast part of the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater floor. The Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Webcam is visible on the rim of the crater near the bottom of the photo.

A third view of the erupting spatter cone, from the south.

This composite image shows the west lobes that are active on the coastal plain. The east lobe, shown in the other composite image, extends of view to the right. Like the other composite image shown today, hot colors (yellow, white) show active areas of the flow field, while the cooler colors (red, purple) show recent but inactive flows.

Aerial view of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater, looking north-northeast. New flows, erupting from a spatter cone just above the center of the photo and a spatter cone to the left of center, have been slowly filling the crater over the past few months.

Viewing looking northeast across Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater. The spatter cone erupting lava flows on to the crater floor over the past few weeks, visible just above the center of the photo, tops the low mound of lava that it has constructed.

Aerial view of the Ki ocean entry with several narrow streams of lava pouring into the ocean.

Spatter being ejected from the newly formed vent.

The lava pond in the vent cavity of the Halema‘uma‘u Overlook vent during the rise phase of a rise/fall cycle. In this photo, the lava pond is 95 m (312 ft) below the floor of Halema‘uma‘u crater. When the pond level is high there is very little fume, allowing for unusually clear views.

A small lava flow erupted from the septum between two vents on the east wall of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater on Sunday, February 6. The hole on the right, which is no longer active, was the original east wall vent. The fuming hole behind the new lava flow is the current east wall vent.

Flows from the more northerly vent are crossing a small portion of the crater floor and filling in the southern opening.

A close-up of the northeast vent in Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, spattering and sending lava flows into the crater.

Overflows from the lava pond in Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō have nearly leveled the crater floor with the perched pond. The floor of the crater is now 39 m (128 ft) below the east rim.

The floor of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater continues its slow rise as lava pours out of a new vent at the base of the east wall. The height of the floor has risen 20 m (66 ft) over the past two weeks.

A low-angle view of the perched lava lake shows how it is elevated above the floor of the crater, like an above-ground swimming pool. The levee around the stands some 8-10 m (26-33 ft) above the surrounding crater floor. Also visible as the bottom of the photo is a new vent which began erupting around midnight last night on the western edge of the crater floor.

View looking up Mauna Loa's spectacular Southwest Rift Zone. Pu‘u o Keokeo fills the lower half of the photo. The black lava beyond is mostly from 1916 and 1926. The summit of Mauna Loa is in the background.

Sulfur, not snow, paints the ground white in the Sulfur Cone area on Mauna Loa's upper Southwest Rift Zone. The summit of Mauna Loa is over the slope of the mountain out of sight to the left in the background.

Shield-volcano Mauna Kea viewed from the northern slope of Mauna Loa (cinder cones in the foreground) shows off its broad shield shape. The bumps on its profile are large cinder cones.

The high point of Mauna Loa, in the background at an elevation of about 13,679 ft, is actually just the highest point along the rim of the steep cliffs that surround Mauna Loa's summit caldera, Moku‘āweoweo, Dark-colored lava flows of recent vintage (1984) cover the floor of Moku‘āweoweo. View is looking southwest.

This edge of the cliff above Moku‘āweoweo, at an elevation of 13,661 feet, is only a few feet lower than Mauna Loa's high point (out of sight to the left). The cliff here is about 600 feet high. Mauna Kea, in the background to the right rises to an elevation of 13,796 feet, barely 100 feet higher the summit of Mauna Loa.

This view of Mauna Loa's 1940 vent cone, looking to the southwest, shows a fissure that bisected it during the 1984 eruption (crack on the right side of the cone). Pāhoehoe flows and spatter erupted from the 1984 fissure blanket the caldera floor northwest of the cone (foreground).

This aerial view of Mauna Loa's summit shows the cinder-cone and lava flows that were erupted in 1949. The crack extending down the left side of the cone is the northeast-southwest trending 1984 fissure that bisected the southwest flank of the cone during the initial phase of the eruption. Light-brown tephra erupted from the 1949 cone thins to the west.