Images

Should Maui residents be concerned about lava flows?

This image shows an HVO geologist sampling the lava that was seeping out of the interior of the rootless shield. The lava was placed in a bucket of water to quench the sample. The top frame is a normal photograph, while the bottom frame is a thermal image taken within a fraction of a second of the photograph.

This image shows an HVO geologist sampling the lava that was seeping out of the interior of the rootless shield. The lava was placed in a bucket of water to quench the sample. The top frame is a normal photograph, while the bottom frame is a thermal image taken within a fraction of a second of the photograph.

One of two small spatter cones that erupted through the crusted lava of a newly formed pond in Pu`u `Ō `ō. This cone is located at the base of the south wall of the crater.

This photo was taken from the lamp on the other side of the plume. The FTIR is the small dark silhouette on the rim across the crater gap.

HVO gas geochemists deployed a FTIR spectrometer on the east rim of Pu`u `Ō `ō crater. The FTIR measures the composition of the East Wall vent gases by "looking" through the plume at an infrared lamp (obscured by fume in this photo)

An HVO geologist samples lava from an active lava tube. These samples are analyzed routinely to track changes in lava chemistry.

The dramatic change in Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō landscape from 1992 (top) to 2005 (bottom). Both photos are taken from the same location, looking toward the east.

This photo shows the view with the naked eye during the high lava stand shown in the thermal video from today. When the lava is at a high stand like this, the plume becomes very thin and a rare view of the lava pond is possible. Typically, the fume is too thick to view the lava surface with the naked eye, and we rely on thermal cameras to image the lava.

This photo shows the view into Overlook vent during a relatively high level of the lava lake in 2010. When the lava was at a high stand like this, the plume became very thin and a view of the lava lake was possible.

As evident by the small plume at the ocean entry, the amount of lava traveling through the tubes from the vent to the ocean has diminished. The most active area of the flow field is above the pali where the new rootless shield is forming.

This composite image overlays a thermal image on a normal photograph, and shows the flow field in the vicinity of the County viewing area, at the end of the Kalapana access road. Recent flows, from the past few weeks, show up as light red, whereas the currently active breakouts are yellow and white.

A closer view of the County viewing area, looking northeast. Again, the thermal image is shown together with a normal photograph. Recently emplaced flows, from the past several weeks, are light red (center of image). The currently active breakouts, just 250 yards northwest of the road, show up as white and yellow.

An aerial photograph looking west along the coastline of the current flow field. The Ki entry continues to produce a small plume, which is distributed along the newly formed delta. The color change in the ocean near the entry is due to the wave erosion of material from the delta and the lava itself.

Since reaching the water a few weeks ago, the Ki ocean entry has formed a small delta, seen here, with a surface area of about 7 acres. A small steam plume rises above the entry, indicating that relatively little lava is making it into the ocean.

Fumes marks the trace of the tube system within the new Quarry flow. The Ki ocean entry, where the lava flowing through the tube system spills into the ocean, is at upper left. The shiny surfaces in the foreground at the center of the image are active lava flows.

Steep view of the Overlook vent from over the south rim of Halema`uma`u. The closed and partly destroyed visitor overlook is visible at the bottom of the image.

View of HALEMAUMUA Crater during typical tradewind conditions, which blows the gas plume to the southeast. For scale, the Halema‘uma‘u Crater is about 1 km (0.6 mi) across (left to right); the floor of Halema‘uma‘u Crater is about 80 m (260 ft) m below the crater rim.

Looking south across Halema`uma`u Crater at the gas plume rising from the Overlook vent.

The western side of the delta was the most active, with several small streams of lava pouring off the front of the delta into the water.

Seismologists demonstrates how an earthquake's S and P waves travel through the earth at a CVO public open house.