Images

Views were hampered today by sporadic downpours. Once the rain passed, areas of active breakouts were evident by the larger steam plumes coming from the surface (for example, at the top center of the photograph).

We collect terrestrial (barrier island) and marine (nearshore and estuarine) sediment cores to ground-truth geophysical observations. These cores are used to understand the history of barrier island formation and erosion.

The impacts of extreme storms can be striking. Here, winter nor’easters eroded sediments from an artificial dune at Fire Island, New York and moved them onto the beach and shoreface. Such erosion created a steep vertical face, or scarp. Erosion and overwash are expected to increase on Fire Island with rising sea levels. 

Though often less intense than hurricanes, extratropical storms (e.g., nor’easters) occur more frequently and their impacts can be striking. Here, several years after Hurricane Sandy, winter nor’easters eroded sediments from an artificial dune at Fire Island, NY and moved them onto the beach and shoreface. Such erosion created a steep vertical face, or scarp.

HVO geologist uses a laser rangefinder to measure the depth of the lava lake at the summit of Kīlauea in the Overlook crater. The lake level was about 58 m (190 ft) below the crater rim this afternoon. In recent days the lake level has dropped about 35 m (115 ft) as tiltmeters at the summit have recorded a larger than usual deflationary trend.

During the Mauna Loa 1950 eruption, three large, fast-moving lava flows advanced down the west flank of the volcano, each crossing the main highway before reaching the ocean. The Ka‘apuna flow, shown here, traveled from the Southwest Rift Zone vent (7,800 ft elevation) to the coast in just 17 hours, creating a huge steam plume as lava flowed into the sea.

Photomicrograph of gabbroic inclusion in Ogres Brow basaltic andesite. A rock thin section is created by gluing a small piece of rock onto a glass slide, then grinding it down to a thickness of 30 microns (the average human hair is about 100 microns in diameter) so that light shines through it when examined under the microscope.

The USGS conducted UAS flights to map the Nauset Marsh and Coast Guard Beach areas of Cape Cod National Seashore on Tuesday, March 1, 2016. These are the first authorized UAS flights in the northeast region of the national park system, and were performed under a research permit according to FAA and DOI regulations. 

The Florida Keys reefs have been experiencing a severe disease outbreak from 2014 to present called Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD).

Brian Shiro in the Wind River Range, Wyoming during a National Outdoor Leadership School expedition. Photo courtesy B. Shiro.

During the first few days of Mount St. Helen's earthquake swarm in March 2016, the September Lobe monitoring station (located on the 1980-86 dome) was buried in deep snow and not transmitting data.

This small-scale map shows Kīlauea's June2th lava flow boundaries on March 25, 2016, in relation to the eastern part of the Island of Hawai‘i. The area of the flow field on February 20 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow field as mapped on March 25 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 February 20 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow field as mapped on March 25 is shown in red. The yellow lines show the active lava tube system. Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō lava flows erupted prior to June 27, 2014, are shown in gray.

This map overlays a georeferenced thermal image mosaic onto the current map of the flow field near Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō to show the distribution of active and recently active breakouts. The thermal images were collected during a helicopter overflight on March 25. The June 27th flow field as of March 25 is outlined in green for comparison.

Breakouts persist northeast of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, with scattered activity along the north margin of the flow field at the forest boundary. One narrow lobe of lava has pushed through forest over the past few weeks, and is 7.6 km (4.7 miles) northeast of the vent on Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō.

Another view, looking west, showing the activity along the forest boundary and northern flow margin. Scattered breakouts were burning forest in this area. In the upper left portion of the image, Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō can be seen.

The altered and fractured rim of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Crater is prone to small collapses. Portions of the eastern crater rim, shown here, have collapsed onto the crater floor, covering the recent lava flows with rubble.

In the western portion of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Crater, there has been a small pit for nearly a year. The pit is about 60 m (200 feet) wide, and a small circular lava pond resides beneath the overhanging west rim of this pit.

HVO geologists walk along the edge of the inner crater in Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, making stops periodically to perform laser rangefinder measurements of crater dimensions.

shows one of the more vigorous breakouts on the flow field today.

Last Saturday, March 19, marked the 8-year anniversary of the start of Kīlauea's ongoing summit eruption in Halema‘uma‘u Crater. Halema‘uma‘u spans much of the width of this photo, and the small inner crater in the foreground is the Overlook crater, which contains the active lava lake.