Unified Interior Regions
Hawaii
The Pacific Region has nine USGS Science Centers in California, Nevada, and Hawaii. The Regional Office, headquartered in Sacramento, provides Center oversight and support, facilitates internal and external collaborations, and works to further USGS strategic science directions.
States L2 Landing Page Tabs
'Nightshot' mode movie of Halema`uma`u rolling lava surface
movie shows the roiling lava surface within the cavity in Halema`uma`u. The video was captured in 'nightshot' mode in order to see through the fume, which obscured viewing by the naked eye. Vigorous upwelling occurs in the northeast (upper right) corner of the opening, with the southwest corner consisting of passively sloshing, and partly crusted lava.
Halema`uma`u lava lake draining event
movie shows a draining event in the Halema`uma`u lava lake. Filling and draining cycles have been observed before here, but this video is one of the clearest examples thus far. The video is shown at actual speed, with draining taking about 40 seconds. Note the draining is highly unsteady, and proceeds in a step-wise fashion. These cycles of filling and draining are due to
Another rare look into Halema`uma`u crater
video shows another rare view of the active lava surface deep within the cavity in Halema`uma`u crater. The lava is approximately 100 m below the floor of Halema`uma`u. The lava surface is disrupted by waves, splashes, bubbling and upwelling, with overall lava movement from the upper right to the lower left.
Halema`uma`u crater
movie shows the behavior of the active lava at the base of the cavity in Halema`uma`u crater. Lava emerged in the upper right and flowed towards the lower left. The surface was disrupted by a chaos of waves, splashes, bubble bursts and spattering. The video is shown at actual speed.
Hawaiian Hoary Bat
A Hawaiian Hoary fits in the palm of one's hand.
Lava Enters The Ocean At Kilauea Volcano, Hawai'i
Lava from the Pu'u 'Ō'ō-Kupaianaha eruption, active since 1983, enters the ocean on the south flank of Kīlauea Volcano.
Halema`uma`u vent with thermal camera
movie shows recent activity observed within the Halema`uma`u vent with a thermal camera. The video speed is approximately x30. Cycles of filling and draining of the lava lake have been observed throughout much of the past week, following a collapse in the vent on March 25. Filling-draining frequencies have ranged from about 10 to 20 cycles per hour. A brief period of
Robust brown plume
movie shows the robust brown plume associated with a hybrid seismic event at 11:03 am. Brown plumes such as this have appeared occasionally throughout the past year of eruptive activity at the summit, and are often associated with rockfalls.
Thermal video of Halema`uma`u vent
movie shows a thermal video providing views into the Halema`uma`u vent. At a depth of about 130 yards below the vent rim, there is a series of small puffing gas vents, and these occasionally throw small amounts of spatter into the air. The configuration and geometry of these small puffing vents have been observed to change on a daily basis. Much of the interior of the
Ocean entry
movie shows the new ocean entry within the National Park, near the location of the buried Poupou-Kauka West archeological site. The entry consists of a series of narrow lava cascades falling onto the rocks at the base of the sea cliff.
Thermal imagery video of Halema`uma`u lava lake cycles
This video shows thermal imagery of the vent inside Halema`uma`u crater. The lava surface, about 130 yards below the vent rim, is clearly visible and can be seen undergoing cycles of filling and drainback. Filling phases entail a rapidly rising lava level with intense (and loud) spattering, followed by a gradual phase of lava draining back down the conduit. These cycles
Geologist on rim of Halema‘uma‘u downloading camera images, Kīlauea...
HVO geologist downloads images collected with infrared cameras set up on the rim of Halema‘uma‘u Crater. The cameras are aimed at an erupting lava lake to conduct a thermal survey of the lake's surface.

Rootless shield and pond at 2180 feet

A heightened awareness of earthquakes usually follows large and destructive ones, like those occurring in Turkey and El Salvador in 1999 and 2001, respectively. Combined, these earthquakes killed more than 37,000 people.

Rootless shield at 2180 feet

Activity in Pu`u `O`o's crater

A number of hills, elongate in an upslope-downslope (mauka-makai) direction, rise 30-425 m (100-1,400 feet) above the surrounding gentle slopes of Mauna Loa, inland from Punalu`u. Ipu`u Ridge, which forms the exceptionally steep southwestern side of Wood Valley above Pahala, is a similar elongate hill.

Pu`u `O`o and points south

Wouldn't it be nice to have eruption forecasts as rich in detail as our current weather forecasts, watches, and warnings? "This is your Hawai'i County Civil Defense. There is an eruption warning in effect until 0800 Wednesday morning with a 10% chance of lava flows advancing faster than 1 km/hr."

Snow adorns the upper 1.5 km (5,000 ft) of Mauna Loa Volcano.

River of lava leaving rootless shield at 2150 feet

Over the past couple of weeks, the international competition at the XIX Olympic winter games has captivated winter sports enthusiasts around the world.

Breached perched pond on rootless shield

New rootless shield at 2240 feet, and a trio of hornitos