Images

More lava flowing than scientists thought

Red circles represent all seismicity and blue circles represent earthquakes as part of earthquake swarms. The size of the circles is scaled to the magnitude of the earthquake. The 630,000 year old Yellowstone caldera is shown as a bold black line within Yellowstone National Park. Mapped faults are shown as light gray lines.

This video shows a rockfall and subsequent explosion that occurred at 7:03 a.m. HST today within the "Overlook crater" at the summit of Kīlauea. This collapse was followed by a smaller rockfall at 7:07 a.m. (not shown in video).

"Dimples" in the Pele's hair that has accumulated on the rim of Halema‘uma‘u are evidence of ballistic impacts during today's rockfall-triggered explosion in Kīlauea Volcano's summit lava lake. Spatter (fragments of molten lava) blasted from the lava lake landed all around HVO's thermal camera (HTcam) that monitors lake activity.

Spatter up to about 30 cm (11.8 in) in size was hurled onto the rim of Halema‘uma‘u during today's explosive events. Some fragments were thrown or blown farther downwind, reaching as far as the closed section of Crater Rim Drive in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park.

Spectacular aerial view of Kīlauea Volcano's East Rift Zone lava flows advancing over Pūlama pali in December 2017. As surface lava flows moved through the center kipuka (forested area) on the pali, smoke rose from the burning vegetation.

Doublet Pool, fringed by geyserite, in the Upper Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park. National Park Service photograph by Jacob Frank.

On January 8, 2018, Kīlauea Volcano's summit lava lake level was 38 m (125 ft) below the rim of "Overlook crater," the small crater that formed above the active vent in Halema‘uma‘u.

First high-definition thermal image of the Halema‘uma‘u lava lake in the New Year, taken shortly after midnight on January 1, 2018. This camera was deployed to track the dynamic surface activity of the lava lake at the summit of Kīlauea.

Example Hydrotherm output. Hydrotherm is a three-dimensional simulation of multiphase groundwater flow and heat transport in the temperature range of 0 to 1200 degrees Celsius and the pressure range of 1 to 1000 MPa.

Heather Wright is a physical volcanologist who works with the USGS-USAID Volcano Disaster Assistance Program.

Mount Baker, Washington simplified hazards map showing potential impact area for ground-based hazards during a volcanic event.

Medicine Lake, California simplified hazards map showing potential impact area for ground-based hazards during a volcanic event.

Image of flyer for GeoGirls 2017 science field camp at Mount St. Helens which was held July 30 to August 3, 2017.

Dr. Jacob Lowenstern, Scientist-in-Charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory during 2002-2017. In this photo, he's leading a field trip in Yellowstone National Park with a group of international volcanologists. 

Horizontal displacements from campaign (black vectors) and continuous (red vectors, with station names given) GPS stations, as well as vertical displacements (indicated by color of GPS station symbol) near South Sister, Oregon. Length of arrow gives amount of horizontal displacement, with scale in lower left showing an arrow length

Mount Jefferson, Oregon simplified hazards map showing potential impact area for ground-based hazards during a volcanic event.

Glow from an active ocean entry on Kīlauea Volcano's Kamokuna lava delta was visible on the evening of September 27, when the 2017 delta was near its maximum size of 8-10 acres. Since then, the edges of the delta began to crumble into the sea. With no lava entering the ocean since November, ocean waves slowly erode the lava delta, further reducing its size.

Channelized breakouts were active on the pali today, feeding a small ‘A‘ā flow moving through the remains of a small Kīpuka.

Thermal map of the 61g lava flow, created on December 12, 2017. The thermal map is limited to the current flow (episode 61g flow), which runs along the center of the map. The blue and green colors correspond to lower surface temperatures, areas of cooled, inactive lava.

An image from a Halema‘uma‘u time-lapse camera taken on December 5 at 4:41 am, just after the collapse. The portion of the rim that fell into the Halema‘uma‘u lava lake triggered intense spattering on the lake margin where the material impacted the lake.