Images

The UNAVCO-operated geodetic infrastructure located in Yellowstone National Park consists of over a dozen continuously operating geodetic sites.  Most of these sites stream real-time data to the UNAVCO data center.  After the September 2020 maintenance trip, there are now 8 fully upgraded GNSS sites (red square) located in the park. 

Thin section made by slicing a small layer off the surface of a hand sample of Yeloowstone lava. Note the marker for scale.

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) Global Positioning System (GPS) survey near the coast in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park on September 10, 2019 (USGS photo by P. Dotray).

An example of a boundary iproblem n the Yellowstone National Park geologic map, which was stitched together from many smaller mapped sections. The red line highlights the contacts that contain different units across the boundary.

Giantess Geyser in eruption at approximately 10:00 AM MDT on August 26, 2020.  Old Faithful is erupting in the center background.

The colorful caldera lake at Kīlauea summit. The view is from the western rim of Halema‘uma‘u crater, 1900 ft (580 m) above the water surface, in a restricted area of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. USGS photo by M. Patrick 08/25/2020.

A scanned image of Rocky Mountain juniper deadwood sample GGR100 collected in the northern part of Yellowstone National Park under permit YELL-5582.  The full length of this sample covers the time period 723-1792 CE.

Radar image of the May 17, 2018 eruption of ash from Halema‘uma‘u Crater. This image is a slice through the cloud at an altitude of 14,000 ft (4 km) above sea level at 4:12 a.m., HST. The colors scale is radar reflectivity, a measure of the size of the particles and their concentration within the ash cloud.

Nā‘ālehu radome, 39 ft (about 12 m) in diameter. The radar dish inside is 28 ft (8.5 m) across. USGS photo by C. Neal on July 27, 2019.

Cross section through the Earth showing the ground surface with an embedded pressure source (red circle)—the so-called “Mogi model”—beneath the ground.  When this pressure source expands, the ground surface inflates like a balloon (the opposite occurs when the pressure in the source decreases).  Dashed black line shows, in an exaggerated way, how the shape

Photo looking north from the north shore of Yellowstone Lake. The photo was taken from a level bench, or terrace, which marks a previous high stand of the lake.  In the middle distance (between the two red lines), the ground slopes up to second, higher-level terrace that indicates an even higher past lake level.

USGS scientist Laura Clor performing maintenance on the SNIF multi-GAS station on Mount St. Helens, Washington.

Black streak on caldera wall (center) is about 50 m (yards) long, and white steam plume (lower right) rises from northwestern part of Halema‘uma‘u. Photo from Volcano House Hotel on July 4, 2018. The configuration of this area changed considerably after the photo was taken, as collapse continued into early August. USGS photo.

Interior of the SNIF multi-GAS enclosure on Mount St. Helens, Washington

The KWcam webcam at Kīlauea's summit captured a rainbow over the water lake in Halema‘uma‘u this afternoon, as light mist moved across the caldera.

Scientists use a MultiGAS instrument (gray, hard-shell case) to measure gas compositions from the East Lake hot spring in the Newberry caldera. The photo was taken on August 3, 2020 just after sunrise. The vapor above the hot spring and lake is typical for cool mornings and is not visible later in the day.

This timelapse video at Kīlauea's summit covers approximately 30 minutes and shows the dynamic nature of the water lake in Halema‘uma‘u crater. Steam from the hot water surface is constantly shifting in the winds, while the migrating color boundaries on the water surface appear to show circulation in the lake. USGS video by M. Patrick.

Thin section image of a lava sample from Yellowstone using a polarizing microscope. The mineral assemblage is representative of many of Yellowstone’s basaltic rocks. The three large and colored crystals (known as phenocrysts) in the center of the image are the mineral olivine.

Plot showing rise of Kīlauea's summit crater lake over the past year, during which laser rangefinder measurements of lake level were made 2–3 times per week. Photos compare the lake on August 27, 2019, when it was ~22 ft (7 m) deep, to July 7, 2020, when it was ~130 ft (40 m) deep. USGS photos.

Kīlauea's summit water lake, in Halema‘uma‘u, continues to slowly rise. Today, the lake colors were vibrant, with a zone of aquamarine water in the west end (lower right in photo). These greenish zones tend to be slightly hotter, and appear to be zones of water influx. USGS photo by M. Patrick.

ANIMATED GIF: Saturday, July 25, marks the one year anniversary since water was first spotted at the bottom of Halema‘uma‘u, at the summit of Kīlauea. Over the past year, the summit water lake has grown to more than 270 m (885 ft) long and 131 m (430 ft) wide, with a surface area over 2.5 hectares (6 acres).