Images

This thermal image was taken from the south rim of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater, showing the lava lake within the crater. Hotter surfaces, such as the narrow zones between crustal plates, are shown by yellow and white colors. Cooler surfaces, such as the cooled lava around the lake, are shown by blue and black colors.

Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō continues to host a small lava lake at the bottom of the crater. Minor spattering and overturning of the lake surface was observed by field crews today.

Lava reappeared in Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater on Saturday morning (March 26), covering the floor of the crater with a small lava lake.

Wes Thelen began his new job as HVO's Seismic Network Manager amidst a flurry of volcanic and seismic activity during Kīlauea Volcano's recent Kamoamoa fissure eruption, shown here on March 9, 2011.

In this close-up view of the lava lake in Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, lava upwells at the west edge of the lake (bottom center of the photo) and flows toward the east (top of photo) where the mostly degassed lava sinks back down, presumably circulating back into the vent.

A small lava lake, confined by slightly elevated levees, is active at the bottom of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater. The lake is roughly the same size as a football field.

Sunset Crater, a basaltic cinder cone in the San Francisco Volcanic Field, Arizona, erupted in 1085 A.D.

HVO staff and volunteers map run-up elevations and inundation distances of tsunami waves that reached the shores around Hawai‘i Island following the magnitude-9.0 earthquake in Japan.

An early morning view of the fountaining we encountered at the western fissure on Sunday, March 6, at 7:20 a.m. Particles were thrown up to 15 m (50 ft) high at this point and the intensity and height increased over the next two hours.

Ground cracks between the east and west Kamoamoa fissure segments. Geologist is about 6 ft tall.

The eastern vent complex of the Kamoamoa eruption was inactive today, but it continues to emit a thick gas plume.

The western vent complex continues to erupt, and had been doing so for about 30 hours as of the time of this photo. Lava erupting from the vent complex is flowing into a channel with levees.

By early this morning, the front of the ‘A‘ā flow fed from the western vent had intercepted the edge of the Mother's Day flow, which was emplaced in 2002-2004. The flow advanced about 2.9 km (1.8 miles) in 30 hours.

With lava retreating deeper into the Halema‘uma‘u vent cavity over the past two days, the cavity walls have experienced more frequent collapses. At 2:23pm today, a collapse from the upper portion of the vent cavity produced a robust brown plume, but did not eject any large particles.

Measuring the flow thickness from another section of the ‘A‘ā flow, using a 1 m (3.2 ft) orange pole for scale.

Lava fountains from the northeastern vent of the Kamoamoa eruption. Though it is an impressive sight, the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō cone in the background, and several hundred meters higher, puts the current activity into perspective.

Lava, erupting from the southwestern vent of the Kamoamoa eruption, fountains above the surrounding forest.

A piece of spatter ejected on March 7, 2011. Handheld GPS for scale

Lava from the erupting fissure produced a large flow that is moving southeast through the adjacent forest.

A view of the spattering source from the ground.

The east rift zone eruption is currently in a hiatus. The east and west Kamoamoa fissures are still fuming, but no lava is erupting. Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō is the fuming cone in the background.