Images

The small lava pond in the western portion of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Crater was at a higher level today compared to previous visits, and closer to the pit rim. A disruption in the pond created increased spattering and agitation during our observation period. For scale, the pond is about 25 meters (80 ft) in diameter.

A closer look at the spattering and agitation in the small lava pond in Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō.

An HVO geologist approaches one of the small vents in Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Crater to obtain a spatter sample.

Layers of explosive deposits erupted from Kīlauea Volcano in 17th and 18th centuries are visible in a road cut just beyond the gate at Keanakāko‘i Crater. This section of Crater Rim Drive has been closed since 2008, when the still-erupting vent within Halema‘uma‘u Crater (middle, far right) first opened. USGS photo.

The top plot is the number of located earthquakes per week from the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network's catalog. The bottom plot shows the earthquake depths with time. Earthquakes are plotted as circles with the size of the circle corresponding to the magnitude of the earthquake (see legend).

Map view plot of earthquakes located by the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network from March 14, 2016 through May 4, 2016. Only high-quality locations are shown (8 or more observations with a 130 degree gap or less between observing stations).

Darryl Oliveira, speaking with Puna residents about Kīlauea Volcano's June 27th flow during a community meeting at Pāhoa High School on September 25, 2014. This lava flow threatened lower Puna District communities only a few weeks after Hurricane Iselle made landfall in the same area of Hawai‘i Island.

Standing masonry buildings in Kathmandu suggest that shaking was not amplified in the valley sediments surrounding Kathmandu

Major damage was more likely to monuments in Kathmandu, Nepal than more modern structures

A comparison of the 1946 Stearns and MacDonald map (left) and the 1996 BIMP map, digitized in 2005 (right), shows how the understanding of Hawai‘i Island's geology advanced over half a century. The Geologic Map of the Island of Hawaii is available online at http://pubs.usgs.gov/ds/2005/144/.

USGS responsds to recent flooding near Houston, Texas on April 20, 2016. 

Alaska Volcano Observatory scientist Mark Hansen working with Larsen Bay Mayor David Harmes on how the AVO-4 particulate monitor operates.

Image of the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole, Massachusetts

Photograph taken from a Colorado National Guard helicopter looking north down the West Salt Creek rock avalanche deposit. On May 25, 2014, the central core of the rock avalanche deposit continued to move for 1-2 hours after the main rock avalanche deposit had stopped moving.

Red dots show updated locations and magnitudes of three earthquakes that occurred on or around the Islands of O‘ahu and Maui in late March and early April 2016, as revised by seismologists at the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

Ground-Penetrating Radar instruments are towed across land. Data from this instrument show underlying sediment layers within the dune and barrier island, which may reveal patterns of growth and erosion.

One benefit of passing showers today at Kīlauea's summit was a double rainbow. Halema‘uma‘u Crater is at the right side of the photo, and the gas plume from the active lava lake can be seen drifting towards the southwest. At the far right edge of the image, visitors take in the view at Jaggar Overlook.

Mauna Loa's summit was cold and clear this morning while HVO scientists performed maintenance on the summit thermal camera and two seismic stations. A few faint steam sources were noted in the usual locations on the caldera floor.

A colony of the soft coral known as the "bent sea rod" stands bleached on a reef off of Islamorada, Florida. Hard and soft corals are presently bleaching- losing their symbiotic algae – all over the coral reefs of the Florida Keys due to unusually warm ocean temperatures this summer.

Surface breakouts remain scattered northeast of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, with a slight retreat in the reach of active breakouts since the last overflight on March 25. Today, the farthest active lava was 5.7 km (3.5 miles) from the vent on Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. Much of the activity was at the forest boundary, burning trees and creating numerous smoke plumes.

One of the more vigorous breakouts on the flow field today, producing a sheet of blue-glassy pāhoehoe.