Images

At the Kamokuna ocean entry, the lava delta is active and slowly growing. As of today, the delta is about 6.8 acres (2.8 hectares) in size. Many coast-parallel cracks are visible on the delta, including a large crack near the center that spans the entire width of the delta. A few small streams of lava entering the ocean can be seen near the front of the delta.

This time-lapse sequence shows the outgassing plume from the Halema‘uma‘u lava lake at the summit of Kīlauea. The images were captured by a camera on the flank of Mauna Loa on May 19, 2017. As the plume rose from the vent, it reached the atmospheric inversion layer, which effectively capped the height of the plume.

This perched lava channel, which was as much as 150 feet (45 meters) above the ground, carried lava downslope from the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Fissure D vent during episode 58 of Kīlauea Volcano's ongoing East Rift Zone eruption. The channel was the main path for lava between July and November 2007. Episode 58 continued until early March 2011.

GeoGirls collect water quality data at Coldwater Lake and sieve landslide deposits to learn more about the impact of the 1980 eruption and the transport of volcanic sediment.

GeoGirls deploy seismometers at Mount St. Helens and learn how to interpret earthquake data.

Charcoal collected from under the base of a pāhoehoe flow in a black sooty zone over orange ash.  The black sooty zone represents the region where the vegetation was converted to charcoal.  The hammer is approximately 13 inches long. USGS photo by F. Trusdell. 

This satellite image was captured on Sunday, July 30, by the NASA/USGS Landsat 8 satellite. Although this is a false-color image, the color map has been chosen to mimic what the human eye would expect to see. Bright red pixels depict areas of very high temperatures and show active lava. White areas are clouds.

The episode 61g lava delta at the Kamokuna ocean entry is unstable with many cracks parallel to the coast. Comparing time-lapse images from July 22 (left) and July 31 (right), the large crack in the center of the delta continues to widen.

On the coastal plain, the front of the June 26 breakout was stalled approximately 1.5 km (0.9 mile) from the emergency route road. The flow front had advanced approximately 300 m (0.2 mile) since HVO last mapped it on July 25. A couple of weak surface breakouts were observed near the flow front, with the closest about 50 m (yards) behind the stalled front.

This viscous, slow-moving ropy pāhoehoe flow was one of only two weak surface breakouts observed by HVO geologists.

A balloon and simple point-and-shoot camera is used to collect digital images that are stitched together to build a 3D elevation model of the landscape.

Meet the GeoGirls, their high school mentors, teacher mentors and scientists at the GeoGirls media day on August 1, 2018.

GeoGirls use ground-penetrating radar to locate rock and ash layers from past eruptions at Mount St. Helens (Mount Adams is pictured in the background).

Mount St. Helens, Washington seen from the flank of Mount Adams to the east.

Mount Adams viewed from Glenwood, Washington.

At Mount St. Helens, the GeoGirls explore the Ape Cave lava tube and learn how to interpret the layers left in the rock wall. 

The summit lava lake level continued to drop through Saturday July 29 as the summit deflated. Rockfalls from the Overlook crater walls have been frequent over the past two days, due to the lowering lava level, and these collapses trigger spattering in the lake.

HVO geologists captured this image of a Koa‘e kea (white-tailed tropicbird) flying high over the summit lava lake this morning (visible between the two spattering sources). These graceful birds nest in the crater walls of Halema‘uma‘u and other rocky cliffs in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, but fly to the ocean to feed.

This movie shows a sequence of 8 time-lapse photos—one photo per day from July 6 to July 13, 2017—of the lava delta at Kīlauea Volcano's Kamokuna ocean entry. The sequence shows the front of the delta subsiding, and cracks running parallel to the coast widening, over the 8-day time period.

Summit deflation over the past day occurred as part of a deflation-inflation (DI) event, and, as usual with deflation, the lava lake level dropped. Over the past two days the lake level has dropped about 20 m (66 ft).

Scattered breakouts continue on the coastal plain inland of the Kamokuna ocean entry, but are relatively weak and have not advanced much over the past week. Breakouts were located about 1.8 km (1.1 miles) upslope of the emergency access road.