Images

This photo, similar to the previous, was taken from the same location as photos posted on July 21 and June 9 (and several other dates scattered over the past several months) to provide a comparison to past activity in Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō.

Over the past week, the lava pond in Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Crater has rebuilt its retaining walls and is once again perched 3-5 m (10-16 ft) above the surrounding crater floor.

View looking east into Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, its crater partly filled by lava flows accumulating on the crater floor. The active lava lake in the crater is 205 m (673 ft) long and varies in width from 80-115 m (262-377 ft). The West Gap pit is in the central foreground, and the Puka Nui and MLK pits are to the right (the MLK pit is in back).

When viewed from a steeper angle (here looking west) the lava lake's shape makes it look like a huge slipper. Recent overflows appear as lighter-colored patches of lava on the crater floor around the lake.

Looking west into Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Crater. Recent flows that have spilled out of the perched pond stand out by their silver color. These overflows have built up the crater floor another 5 m (16 ft) since last week. Kane Nui o Hamo, Mauna Ulu, and Pu‘u Huluhulu are in the background.

A different perspective of the perched pond, from the west side of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Crater.

Over the past few days, lava has filled the floor of the Puka Nui pit (lower left) and the MLK pit (lower right) on the west end of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō.

Looking south toward the MLK pit (straight) and Puka Nui pit (right). Lava is only a few meters (yards) away from overtopping the pits and flowing onto the southwest flank of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō.

Photo looking southwest at the lava lake in Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater. Starting by July 25, lava began to exit Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō through a gap in the southwest side of the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō cone, and flowed a short distance down Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō's flank. By July 29, lava had begun to pond on Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō's southwest flank, completely filling the Puka Nui and MLK pits.

Another photo of the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater, this one looking northwest. In addition to flowing out of the crater to the southwest, lava has also been filling in the northeast side of the crater. Lava there is within 6 m (20 ft) of the crater rim. The gas plume from the vent at Kīlauea's summit is in the background.

Starting in late June, the crater floor around the lava lake began to uplift. The photo here shows the flank of the east side of the lava lake. Prior to uplift, this steeply dipping surface was nearly flat-lying.

The lava accumulating on the southeast side of the crater has begun to form a low shield that extends out from the crater and has buried the Puka Nui and MLK pits. Compare this photo to one taken last week (July 21) from the same spot.

Around 2:20 p.m., HST, on August 3, lava broke out from a vent (center) low on the west flank of the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō cone. Lava erupting from the flank vent is entirely within Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, and pose no hazard to residents.

This view, looking east, shows the broad area of ponded lava fed by two main channels originating from several individual vents. The fume-filled crater of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō is in the background. The darker lava in the foreground, at the bottom of the image, is from the March 2011 Kamoamoa eruption.

One of the more vigorous vents, in the lower left, is topped by a tall (6 m, or 20 ft, high) spatter cone. The flow from this vent cascades down several steps, joining the flow from two other nearby vents, before flowing under a small bridge and into the broad area of ponded lava to the west.

The new lava lake in Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō has buried much of the floor of the August 3, 2011, collapse crater beneath a maximum of about 45 m (~148 ft) of lava. Most of the lava upwells at the east end of the lake (lower right) and flows toward the west, much like the lava lake prior to the August 3 flank breakout and crater collapse.

"The great inflated cylinder of black glass which formed over the sunken island, Aug. 18, 1911" (Frank Perret).

Stream channel cross-section measurements—instrument that uses laser pulses to survey distance to a reflector operated by a second crew member, Mount St. Helens.

Global Positioning System receiver (called a GPS monument) at North Rim Station, a monitoring location at Newberry volcano, Oregon.

August 3 photo showing the collapsed floor within Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Crater in the foreground and two lava flow branches each burning some forest—northwest branch to the right and south branch to the left.

Frank Perret's photos from early July 1911 showing the island in the lake at the bottom of a smaller Halema‘uma‘u Crater. The view is looking southwest and the ledge up near the west rim was known as the January 1910 bench, a remnant of an earlier lava level in the crater.