Images

Spattering is common in the summit lava lake, and this photo shows spattering in the southeast corner of the lake. Spatter accumulation on the lake margins has built up several small peninsulas that extend a few meters (yards) out from the crater wall.

Sluggish pāhoehoe breakouts remain active on the coastal plain, near the base of the pali. Over the past week, these breakouts have not advanced any significant distance. There were also several small lava channels on the steep section of the pali today (May 27).

A close up of one of the typical pāhoehoe toes.

Numerous fumaroles are present near the rim of Halema‘uma‘u Crater, and are evident by the bright yellow sulfur deposits. In recent years these fumaroles have been covered by a thick carpet of Pele's hair produced by the lava lake. Moisture emitted by the fumaroles collects as tiny water droplets on the fine hairs, resembling a thin dusting of snow.

Spattering on the summit lava lake within Halema‘uma‘u is ever-changing, but on Sunday (May 28), two sources could be seen—one on the north side of the lake (bright area at left) and one on the southeast side (right). A close-up view of the southeast spattering source is shown in the adjacent photo.

The eruption began about 18 minutes prior to this image and the cloud rose to an altitude in excess of 40,000 ft above sea level. The white color of the eruption cloud is due to the large amount of water that is incorporated into the eruption column as the vent is located in shallow water. Image data provided under the Digital Globe NextView License.

View of headscarp of Red Bluffs landslide (adjacent to the Bonneville landslide), looking northwest and showing the bedded volcaniclastic sediments (gray layers) that are dipping about 7 degrees toward the viewer and in which sliding has occurred. The slightly darker gray and orange-brown unit in the top quarter of the scarp face is Columbia River Basalt.

Zooming in even closer, the top of the crusted-over firehose flow can be seen. Cracks in the hardened tube surface reveal incandescent lava flowing though the tube. Fume from the degassing lava also escapes through these cracks.

The March 5 breakout of the 61g flow is producing active surface flows on and at the base of the pali (cliff). The slow-moving pāhoehoe flow front (foreground) was approximately 400 meters (yards) beyond the base of the pali on the afternoon of May 23.

The lava delta at Kīlauea Volcano's Kamokuna ocean entry continues to grow. On May 23, activity was concentrated near the southeastern tip of the delta, creating a thick steam plume that afforded only occasional glimpses of lava entering the ocean. Small littoral bursts were common as molten lava interacted with the cool seawater.

A telephoto view of where the 61g lava tube exits the sea cliff. The upper portion of the firehose flow, visible from early January to late March 2017, is now crusted over, but lava within the tube continues to feed the growing lava delta.

A comparison of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory homepage in 1998 (left), the year the website was originally launched, and in 2017 (right), following an extensive makeover to create a website that is more interactive, mobile-friendly, and easier to maintain.

Aerial view of the May 18, 1980, eruption of Mount St. Helens as seen from the southwest. Columns of ash and volcanic gas reached heights of more than 24 km (80,000 ft) during the eruption.

USGS geologist Don Swanson (in red) and his colleague, Jim Moore, view a car filled with ash deposits from the May 18, 1980, eruption of Mount St. Helens. Additional photos of the 1980 eruption of Mount St.

The lava delta at Kīlauea Volcano's Kamokuna ocean entry is quickly rebuilding after the collapse on May 3, when much of the previous delta collapsed into the sea. A robust steam plume obscured the seaward section of the delta today (May 7).

A telephoto lens provided a close-up view of the seaward edge of the Kamokuna lava delta, where multiple, small streams of lava were entering the ocean today. Fragments of hot lava can be seen floating in the water.

USGS scientists hiked to the summit of Mauna Loa, where they checked on HVO's monitoring instruments and realigned an antenna that allows webcam images of the volcano's summit caldera (shown in this panoramic image) to be posted on the HVO website.

Between 9:35 and 9:40 a.m., a large steam plume appeared in the middle of Kamokuna lava delta in the area of large cracks noted in our April 27 image (see below). Weak fountaining or spattering likely occurred initially, because new tephra is visible in the steaming area, but that activity ended by 9:40 a.m.

This morning (May 4), the Kamokuna ocean entry was obscured by a thick steam plume at the base of the cliff. Sparse littoral bursts, occasionally visible through the plume, were the source of the floating, steaming lava fragments that can be seen in the ocean near the entry.

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory volunteer Marcy Frenz feeds a seismogram from the May 1982 Kīlauea south caldera earthquake flurry into a large-format document scanner. Preserving stacks of paper earthquake records as digital image files is an ongoing project at HVO. USGS photo by S. Tsang.

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the active flow field as of April 10 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the active flow as of May 3 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 (dashed where uncertain).