Images

HVO geologists get fresh lava samples as close to the vent as possible. Once the sample is scooped from the pāhoehoe lobe, it is quickly quenched in a bucket of water to stop the growth of any crystals and to preserve the composition of the liquid lava.

The lava lake within Halema‘uma‘u Crater at the summit of Kīlauea on February 1, 2014.

This satellite image was captured on Tuesday, March 3, 2015 by the Landsat 8 satellite. Although this is a false-color image, the color map has been chosen to mimic what the human eye would expect to see. Bright red pixels depict areas of very high temperatures and show active lava. White areas are clouds.

This satellite image was captured on Saturday, February 14, by the Advanced Land Imager instrument onboard NASA's Earth Observing 1 satellite. The image is provided courtesy of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Although this is a false-color image, the color map has been chosen to mimic what the human eye would expect to see.

This large-scale map uses a satellite image acquired in March 2014 (provided by Digital Globe) as a base to show the area around the front of Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow. The area of the flow on February 5 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of February 10 is shown in red.

This large-scale map shows the distal part of Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow in relation to nearby Puna communities. The area of the flow on February 5 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of February 10 is shown in red.

This small-scale map shows Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow in relation to lower Puna. The area of the flow on February 5 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of February 10 is shown in red.

This large-scale map uses a satellite image acquired in March 2014 (provided by Digital Globe) as a base to show the area around the front of Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow. The area of the flow on January 29 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of February 5 is shown in red.

This small-scale map shows Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow in relation to lower Puna. The area of the flow on January 29 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of February 5 is shown in red.

This large-scale map shows the distal part of Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow in relation to nearby Puna communities. The area of the flow on January 29 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of February 5 is shown in red.

This small-scale map shows Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow in relation to lower Puna. The area of the flow on January 22 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of January 29 is shown in red.

This large-scale map shows the distal part of Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow in relation to nearby Puna communities. The area of the flow on January 22 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of January 29 is shown in red.

This large-scale map uses a satellite image acquired in March 2014 (provided by Digital Globe) as a base to show the area around the front of Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow. The area of the flow on January 26 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow based on today's overflight (January 29), is shown in red.

This small-scale map shows Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow in relation to lower Puna. The area of the flow on January 22 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of January 29 is shown in red.

This large-scale map shows the distal part of Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow in relation to nearby Puna communities. The area of the flow on January 22 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of January 29 is shown in red.

This large-scale map uses a satellite image acquired in March 2014 (provided by Digital Globe) as a base to show the area around the front of Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow. The area of the flow on January 22 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow based on satellite imagery acquired today (January 26), is shown in red.

This large-scale map uses a satellite image acquired in March 2014 (provided by Digital Globe) as a base to show the area around the front of Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow. The area of the flow on January 19 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of January 22 is shown in red.

This small-scale map shows Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow in relation to lower Puna. The area of the flow on January 19 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of January 22 is shown in red.

This large-scale map shows the distal part of Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow in relation to nearby Puna communities. The area of the flow on January 19 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of January 22 is shown in red.

This large-scale map uses a satellite image acquired in March 2014 (provided by Digital Globe) as a base to show the area around the front of Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow.

This large-scale map uses a satellite image acquired in March 2014 (provided by Digital Globe) as a base to show the area around the front of Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow. The area of the flow on January 9 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as determined from our overflight in the morning on January 13 is shown in red.