Images

A sensor data logger recovered from the floor of Yellowstone Lake in the Deep Hole area in 2018 shows signs of melting due to unexpectedly high temperatures in sediments up to ~3 ft (1 m) away from an active hydrothermal vent. Image acquired by the Global Foundation for Ocean Exploration ROV Yogi on August 4, 2018.

Color bands in this radar interferogram depict the pattern of surface deformation at the Yellowstone caldera from September 22, 2004, to August 23, 2006. The southwest and northeast parts of the caldera floor rose about 11 cm (4.3 inches) and 15 cm (5.9 inches), respectively, while the north caldera rim near Norris Geyser Basin subsided about 7 cm (2.8 inches).

Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō on May 3, 2018, as viewed from the helicopter overflight. The crater floor is collapsed, and a thin plume escapes from the gaping crater. The west flank cracked on April 30th around 2:30 pm HST, and minor amounts of lava oozed out of the crack (line of steaming features) just before the plumbing system catastrophically failed.

At Kīlauea's summit today, a clear morning gave way to heavy rain, which re-mobilized the ash cover between HVO and the Southwest Rift Zone, concentrating the ash in washes.

Kīlauea Volcano’s summit, seen here from the northeast rim of the caldera, has remained quiet, with no collapse events since August 2. It remains too soon to tell if this diminished activity represents a temporary lull or the end of summit collapses.

The fissure 8 lava channel remains inactive and continues to cool.

Kīlauea Volcano's 2018 summit collapse, shown here on July 28 (left), and the lower East Rift Zone fissure 8 lava flow, shown here on July 2 (right), will be the focus of "Volcano Awareness Month" talks offered in January 2019.

USGS scientists continue to monitor some of the cracks in the lower East Rift Zone to check for any significant changes. This scientist is using an Infrared thermometer to record the temperature within the ground cracks.

A midwinter dawn at Halema‘uma‘u on Kīlauea. Steaming cracks tell of water and heat interacting beneath the summit caldera of the volcano. In the background, the first rays of sunlight illuminate Uēkahuna Bluff. USGS photo by E. F. Younger, December 2018.

View into fissure 8 cone in Kīlauea Volcano's lower East Rift Zone, after lava drained away. USGS webcam image from November 4, 2018.

Map of earthquakes in the Yellowstone area in 2017 that were individually located using traditional methods by University of Utah Seismograph Stations. The Maple Creek earthquake swarm, northwest of the caldera (red outline), is the second-longest-lasting ever recorded in the region. Black line shows Park boundary, and white lines are roads.

Volcano Awareness Month 2019 Overview images

Close view of the Pohoiki boat ramp during this morning's overflight. The southern-most flow margin has not advanced significantly toward the Pohoiki boat ramp, but black sand and larger fragments from the entry areas have washed ashore to create a sand bar and beach at this site.

The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory continues to closely monitor volcanoes and earthquakes on the Island of Hawai‘i. On this map, which shows earthquakes that occurred beneath the island between August 6, 2018, and November 14, 2018, the size of each circle depicts earthquake magnitude and color indicates earthquake depth, relative to mean sea level. USGS map.

Fissure 22 was active in late May near Lanipuna Gardens subdivision, which is now mostly buried by lava flows. During the later stages of Fissure 22 activity, small strombolian-style explosions built a symmetric cinder cone over the vent.

GPS time series from station NRWY, near Norris Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park. The three plots show how the station is moving in a north-south direction (top), east-west direction (middle), and up-down direction (bottom).

The emission of volcanic gases, including sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide, is not unusual at the summit of Kīlauea. However, sulfur dioxide gas emission rates are now lower than they have been since before 1983, with about 50 tonnes/day measured at the summit of the volcano on the day of this photo (October 24).

Aerial view of the fissure 8 cone and spillway captured by Civil Air Patrol during their overflight on August 7, 2018. View is toward the south.

These two plots show summit tilt (ground deformation) and seismicity (earthquake counts) on Kīlauea Volcano between July 15 and August 5, 2018. A regular pattern emerged in which seismicity gradually increased over 1-3 days (bottom), until the caldera floor suddenly dropped several meters (yards) in a matter of seconds.

Mount Rainier is much more than a mountain in the sky. Constructed of hundreds of lava flows, and capped by as much glacier ice as all other Cascade volcanoes combined, Rainier's steep rubbly slopes and abundant water make it prone to landslides and lahars, especially during eruptions. Are you ready for an eruption?

The inferred rupture area (white dashed line) of the May 4, 2018, magnitude-6.9 earthquake, with its foreshocks and first 10 days of aftershocks, spans an area of about 800 sq km (300 sq mi). Circle size indicates earthquake magnitude; color indicates earthquake depth. Magnitudes for some of the larger events are labeled.