Images

Spattering is common in Kīlauea Volcano's summit lava lake, and consists of many large bursting gas bubbles. The fluid nature of the lake can be seen when lava hits the wall and flows downward like syrup. The thin, flexible nature of the crust is also shown here, as the bursting gas bubbles rip and fold the thin skin on the lake.

HVO K2cam image at the time of the 6:06 p.m. collapse on Sept. 8. Interestingly, this collapse did not generate a large explosion—only a small, brownish plume was observed during and immediately after the rocky ledge fell into the lava lake.

On September 8, at 6:06 p.m. HST, much of the large ledge that had built up on the south side of the summit vent within Halema‘uma‘u collapsed. The top two images, captured by HVO's K2 and HT web cameras, show the summit vent before the collapse. A yellow arrow points to the ledge, which was formed by layers of lava stacking up during repeated high lake levels.

A USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory webcam captured this image of spattering on Kīlauea Volcano's summit lava lake on September 6, 2017. In concert with summit inflation, the lake level had risen to 16.5 m (54 ft) below the vent rim, bringing it into view from the Jaggar Museum Overlook in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park.

USGS campus in Menlo Park, California - office location of the California Volcano Observatory

This map is similar to the map above but shows a thermal map over the Episode 61g lava flow. Cooler colors (blue and green) show cooled, inactive portions of the flow surface. Hot colors (red and orange) show areas of active surface breakouts.

Today, two recent breakouts (lighter in color) were visible on the steeper portion of the pali. The western breakout (left of the kipuka) started on August 27 from the 61g tube, and has started to advance onto the coastal plain. To the east (right) of the kipuka is a smaller surface flow that is a part of the larger June 26 breakout.

Telephoto view of some of the pāhoehoe lava channels from the surface activity of the June 26 breakout.

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the active flow field as of August 9 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the active flow as of September 1 is shown in red. Older Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō lava flows (1983-2016) are shown in gray. The yellow line is the trace of the active lava tube.

Lava continues to enter the ocean at the Kamokuna ocean entry with many small lava streams near the front of the delta. On August 19, there was a breakout approximately 120 m (394 ft) away from the edge of the sea cliff that lasted for approximately 9.5 hours.

The east side of Mount Rainier, as viewed from Panhandle Gap.

USGS geologist Don Swanson (right) explains Keanakāko‘i Tephra stratigraphy exposed near the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory to scientists who visited Kīlauea during a Geological Society of America field trip in May 2017. USGS photo by T. Neal.

Example of the Keanakāko‘i Tephra sequence exposed on the southeast side of Kīlauea Volcano's summit caldera showing some of the identified units labeled with the revised nomenclature scheme. USGS photo by D. Swanson.

USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory field engineers begin the process of lowering a tiltmeter into a deep borehole on the west flank of Mauna Loa. The installation is guided by a custom-built apparatus that includes a 3-D printed jig. This tiltmeter will help monitor the currently elevated activity of Mauna Loa Volcano. USGS photo.

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the active flow field as of August 9 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the active flow as of August 20 is shown in red. Older Puʻu ʻŌʻō lava flows (1983-2016) are shown in gray. The yellow line is the trace of the active lava tube.

On Saturday, August 19 at 04:10 HST a breakout that started 120 m (394 ft) up-slope of the ocean entry, began to spill over the sea cliff and onto the delta. The lava fall was located to the west of the ramp (tubed-over firehose), and produced a small ‘A‘ā flow on the western portion of the delta.

At 9:35 pm HST on August 19, there was a large littoral explosion near the front of the delta (left). Another smaller explosion was seen 5 minutes later. These explosions are typically caused by mixing of cool sea water and hot lava. The August 19 explosions were not followed by obvious delta subsidence or collapse, something we have seen in the past.

A telephoto image of the spatter deposit produced by the August 19 littoral explosions at the lava delta. When ejected, the spatter was thrown much higher than the height of the sea cliff which is approximately 28 m (92 ft). The flying debris is just one of the many hazards at an ocean entry.

Between August 19-22, 2017, 140 seismometers were deployed around Mount St. Helens. Instruments were placed on top of the 2004-2008 lava dome, the 1980-86 lava dome, the 1980 crater floor, and around the volcanic cone.

Map of lava flows erupted from Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō since 1983. Gray color shows area covered by lava flows erupted from many different vents between 1983 and June 2014. Pink shows the area covered by the June 27th flow between June 2014 and June 2016. Red shows the area covered by the 61g flow between May 2016 and August 9, 2017.

Mount St. Helens, as viewed from the Castle Lake Overlook.