Images

Two new breakouts at Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō began this morning just before 7:00 a.m., HST. The larger of the two breakouts, shown here, originated on the northeast flank of the cone, at the site of the vent for the ongoing June 27th lava flow. This breakout point fed a vigorous channelized flow that extended about 1 km (0.6 miles).

A wider view of the larger breakout traveling down the north flank of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, towards the northwest. This photo was taken at about 8:30am.

Another breakout occurred just east of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, about 500 m (0.3 miles) from the crater, in the area of the "Peace Day" flow that broke out in September 2011. This second breakout was smaller than the one on the northeast flank, but was still feeding an impressive lava channel.

A video of the larger breakout, flowing northwest.

USGS scientists are working to model shorebird habitat availability both today and in the future, given processes like sea-level rise, in an effort to support the efficient management of beaches for both people and nesting shorebirds.

USGS scientists are working to model shorebird habitat availability both today and in the future, given processes like sea-level rise, in an effort to support the efficient management of beaches for both people and nesting shorebirds.

USGS scientists are working to model shorebird habitat availability both today and in the future, given processes like sea-level rise, in an effort to support the efficient management of beaches for both people and nesting shorebirds.

The beach-dependent shorebirds project at the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center models current and future habitat availability for nesting shorebirds in an effort to map current and likely future habitat availability on a range of sites along the U.S. Atlantic coast.

USGS collaborators from Marine Biological Laboratory preparing to measure greenhouse gas flux from a salt marsh study site (Cape Cod, MA).

A USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory chemist conducts thermal imaging measurements as part of a geochemical survey on Mauna Loa's upper Southwest Rift Zone in March 2016. Areas like the one shown here can indicate where gases are escaping from magma at depth. USGS photo.

The crater floor at Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō has recently experienced minor uplift due to inflation within Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō cone. The crater floor uplift is subtle, and probably no more than about 1 meter (3 feet) since May 15. Small, hot cracks have appeared on the crater floor during the uplift.

USGS scientists are working to model shorebird habitat availability both today and in the future, given processes like sea-level rise, in an effort to support the efficient management of beaches for both people and nesting shorebirds. This photo shows an area on Long Beach Island, NJ where high quality shorebird habitat has been closed off to beach recreation.

On May 18, 2016, a Landsat 8 acquisition of flood-ravaged Sri Lanka produced impressive imagery of swollen waterways.

The red line shows the total number of earthquakes that have occurred at Mount Hood between the year 2000 and May 16, 2016. During this period, there have been 829 earthquakes greater than magnitude 1. Note the number of earthquakes during the 2002 swarm.

This image of Kīlauea Volcano's summit, probably taken in the 1860s from a site near where Jaggar Museum in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park is located today, was once thought to be the first photograph of Kīlauea. It shows part of the caldera rim and floor with a fuming Halema‘uma‘u Crater near the center of the image. USGS/HVO photo archives.

This daguerreotype image, captured in 1855 by Hugo Stangenwald, is the earliest known photograph of Kīlauea Volcano. Although scratched and faded, the 161-year-old photo shows a line of steaming vents across the floor of Kīlauea's summit caldera as viewed from a location near today's Volcano House Hotel. The caldera rim is visible in the lower third of the image.

Kure atoll, the northernmost coral atoll in the world, is a former volcano, and the oldest part of the Hawaiian Island Chain still above water. Diameter of the atoll is 9.3 km (5.8 mi).

Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center scientists aboard the RV Rafael prepare to launch the Mini SEABOSS just off of Nantucket!  The Mini SEABOSS collects samples, photos and video of the seafloor. 

This small-scale map shows Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow field in relation to the eastern part of the Island of Hawai‘i. The area of the flow field on March 25 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow field as mapped on May 9 is shown in red. Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō lava flows erupted prior to June 27, 2014, are shown in gray.

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the flow field on March 25 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow field as mapped on May 9 is shown in red. The yellow lines show the mapped portion of the active lava tube system.

Scattered breakouts persist northeast of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, with no significant advancement over the past month. Today, the farthest active breakouts were 5.8 km (3.6 miles) from the vent on Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. Several small breakouts were burning vegetation along the north margin of the flow, at the forest boundary. This photo looks upslope, towards the vent.