Images

View into Halema‘uma‘u from the west rim of Kīlauea's summit caldera. USGS photo: J. Kauahikaua, 03 March 2019

Huckleberry Ridge Tuff deposit exposed on Mt. Everts, near the northern boundary of Yellowstone National Park. The deposit was created by ash falling from the plume early in the eruption sequence, 2.08 million years ago. Photo by Madison Myers, Montana State University.

This ‘a‘ā flow erupted from fissure 8 on Kīlauea Volcano's lower East Rift Zone on June 1, 2018, shows how the interior of a lava flow remains incandescently hot even though surface cooling forms a crust of solid rubble.

A USGS pilot and Hawaiian Volcano Observatory gas geochemist prepare to conduct a test flight of an unmanned aerial system (UAS) on Kīlauea Volcano in November 2018. This UAS was outfitted with a prototype miniaturized multi-gas sensor for the detection of volcanic gases emitted by Kīlauea, including sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide.

Dragon’s Mouth in the Mud Volcano Area of Yellowstone National Park.

Many of the earthquakes in Hawaii that extend offshore and up the island chain are due to plate bending, or flexure. The upper panel shows magnitude-5 and greater earthquakes since 1861, with some notable events labeled.

Hot spring waters with relatively high dissolved element concentrations on the floor of West Thumb, Yellowstone Lake. Image acquired by the Global Foundation for Ocean Exploration ROV Yogi on August 7, 2018.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.