Images

Lava flow activity continues to burn vegetation in the kipuka adjacent to the trail, causing the viewing trail to be closed beyond the trailhead. The new viewing area is still very close to the active flows.

Surface flows on the coastal plain were active a couple hundred meters (yards) from the current viewing trail at the end of Highway 130. The flows are burning along the margin of a large kipuka mauka of the viewing trail.

While much of this lava flow stayed along the margin of the kipuka, a few lobes ventured into the vegetation.

Photograph of the eruption from the summit of Eyjafjallajökull from the north looking to the south across the Gígjökull outlet glacier, its "missing" proglacial (ice-margin) lake caused by the jökulhlaup that filled in the lake. 

Original image can be found at: http://www.examiner.com/article/mother-nature-one-ups-scientists-no-cle…

An HVO geologist takes a sample of active lava within a lava tube. The fluid lava sticks to the heavy hammer head at the end of the cable when it is lowered into the swiftly moving lava stream. These samples are analyzed routinely to track changes in lava chemistry.

Flows continue to be active on the pali and are advancing southward. The flow front this morning was approximately 1.4 km (0.9 miles) north of the County viewing area. Letters A and B denote corresponding points in the photograph (top) and thermal image (bottom). The active flows show up clearly in the thermal image.

Lava flow breakout

View of the currently active flows on the pali, east of Royal Gardens subdivision. The corresponding thermal image highlights the active flow area clearly. The active flows are traveling down the east margin of the Thanksgiving Eve Breakout (TEB) flow field. The flows are being fed by a lengthening lava tube, which is marked by a line of fume.

View of the active vent in Halema`uma`u Crater. The remains of the visitor overlook fence are on the crater rim just below the vent. The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and Jaggar Museum on visible on Uwekahuna Bluff in the background. The broad slope of Mauna Loa's east flank forms the skyline.

The terminus of the active flows from Kilauea's east rift zone, the lighter color lava seen here, have reached down to about the 1100-ft elevation just east of the older TEB flow field. If these flows continue to push forward, they will likely end up back on top of the older TEB flow field at the base of Pulama pali close to the end of the Kalapana access road.

After a short pause in surface activity late last week, breakouts resumed over the weekend and continued through this week. Scattered pahoehoe flows were located above the pali, about 1.6 km (1 mile) north of Royal Gardens subdivision.

No surface flows were active anywhere on the flow field today, due to summit deflation and a reduction in lava supply over the past few days. Summit inflation resumed yesterday, and an increase in lava supply should lead to resumed breakouts over the next several days.

This image was collected from a thermal camera at the Halema`uma`u Overlook, and shows the current activity at the summit. The active lava pond, about 40 m across, is situated deep within the vent cavity, at a depth of about 200 m. The lava surface consists of slowly migrating crustal plates, with a spattering source on the east margin of the pond.

A lava flow burns what little vegetation is left in this small kipuka at the top of the pali.

The forward looking infrared (FLIR) image on the right is a close-up infrared image of the current flow field, shown on the left. FLIR is an imaging technology that senses infrared radiation.

The upper TEB flow field, looking south. The fuming hole in the foreground is the TEB vent. The other fume sources, which help delineate the lava tube, are coming from collapsed areas down the tube system.

A small active pāhoehoe flow overplating an older 'a'ā flow on the upper TEB flow field. There were a few small scattered breakouts above the pali, but the majority of the surface activity was flowing through Royal Gardens and onto the coastal plain.

Janelle Dyer dispenses a filtered ash leachate sample into a sample bottle for ion chromatography analysis for anions such as fluoride, chloride, sulfate, and nitrate.

Scientist Christoph Kern adjusts the alignment of optics on the active long-path differential optical absorption spectroscopy (LP-DOAS) instrument. LP-DOAS sends a beam of ultraviolet or visible light to a reflector located tens to hundreds of meters away.

The USGS operates a real-time lake elevation monitoring gage on Spirit Lake to ensure water level does not exceed a safe limit. In 1985, the U.S.