Images

Mike Poland programs a GPS receiver near Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō on Kīlauea's East Rift Zone.

The rim of Kīlauea Volcano's summit caldera, normally clear on trade-wind days (left), became nearly obscured by vog (right) on some non-trade wind days beginning in 2008, when sulfur dioxide emissions from the volcano's summit increased to unusually high levels. USGS photos.

This map overlays a georegistered mosaic of thermal images collected during a helicopter overflight of the distal part of Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow on February 10 at about 12:30 PM. The base image is a satellite image acquired in March 2014 (provided by Digital Globe). The perimeter of the flow at that time is outlined in yellow.

This comparison of a normal photograph and a thermal image shows the position of active breakouts relative to the inactive flow tip. The white box shows the rough extent of the thermal image on the right. In the thermal image, active breakouts are visible as white and yellow areas.

This large-scale map uses a satellite image acquired in March 2014 (provided by Digital Globe) as a base to show the area around the front of Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow. The area of the flow on February 5 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of February 10 is shown in red.

This large-scale map shows the distal part of Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow in relation to nearby Puna communities. The area of the flow on February 5 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of February 10 is shown in red.

This small-scale map shows Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow in relation to lower Puna. The area of the flow on February 5 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of February 10 is shown in red.

The leading tip of the June 27th flow has been stalled roughly 500 meters (550 yards) upslope of Highway 130 for several weeks, but breakouts have persisted upslope of this stalled tip. Today, the closest active breakout to the flow tip was roughly 300 meters (330 yards) upslope of the tip.

A breakout was also active farther upslope, closer to Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. This breakout, visible as the light gray surface, has reached the forest boundary and triggered several small brush fires.

The summit lava lake in Halema‘uma‘u Crater continues with relatively steady activity. Today, spattering was active along the south margin of the lava lake.

Roughly 6 km (4 miles) upslope of the stalled tip of the flow, a small breakout was active at a major fork on the June 27th flow. The lobe extending off the top of the photograph entered Pāhoa in October, and is now inactive. The lobe extending off the left edge of the photograph is the currently active lobe.

This large-scale map shows the distal part of Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow in relation to nearby Puna communities. The area of the flow on January 29 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of February 5 is shown in red.

This large-scale map uses a satellite image acquired in March 2014 (provided by Digital Globe) as a base to show the area around the front of Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow. The area of the flow on January 29 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of February 5 is shown in red.

This comparison of a normal photograph and a thermal image shows the position of active breakouts relative to the inactive flow tip. The white box shows the rough extent of the thermal image on the right. In the thermal image, active breakouts are visible as white and yellow areas.

The pāhoehoe breakout northeast of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō is seen here covering older (1980s) ‘A‘ā. Many pieces of the old ‘A‘ā clinker were surrounded by the solidifying pāhoehoe, and then lifted by the inflating flow surface.

A thermal map of the June 27th lava flow for January 22, 2015. Temperature in the thermal image is displayed as gray-scale values, with the brightest pixels indicating the hottest areas (white shows active breakouts).

Although the leading tip of the flow remains stalled roughly 500 meters (550 yards) upslope of Highway 130, active breakouts persist a short distance upslope of the stalled tip. These active breakouts are evident as small smoke plumes on the flow margin, where lava is burning vegetation.

This section of the flow, which has cut through forest west of Kaohe Homesteads, is relatively narrow. In the left portion of the photograph, the flow is slightly more than 100 meters (110 yards) wide.

A wider view of the breakout in the upslope portion of the June 27th flow. Active surface lava was about 3.5 km (2.2 miles) northeast of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, which can be seen in the upper left corner of the photograph.

This view looks west at Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. In the lower left portion of the photograph, the circular perched lava pond that was active in early July can be seen. Just to the right of this perched lava pond, a line of white fume can be seen extending to the lower right corner of the image. This fume marks the path of the subsurface lava tube for the June 27th lava flow.

This small-scale map shows Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow in relation to lower Puna. The area of the flow on January 29 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of February 5 is shown in red.