Images

This map overlays georegistered mosaics of thermal images collected during a helicopter overflight of the three areas of breakouts near Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō on March 17 at about 8:00 AM. The perimeter of the flow at the time the imagery was acquired is outlined in yellow.

After establishing an appropriate location to resume VLF measurements over the June 27th lava tube to estimate the cross-sectional area of lava within the tube, HVO geologists make the measurements, sometimes requiring walking through volcanic gases.

The VLF radio wave, transmitted from the Lualualei Naval Base on O‘ahu, is received by the handheld device. The numbers are read and recorded. These data will allow the estimation of the cross-sectional area of lava within the tube.

First recognized in Kalapana in 1990, these pāhoehoe flows appear bluish with dense, glassy crusts. These lavas are generally observed later in the life of an inflated pāhoehoe flow. The degassed nature of the lava promotes the formation of solid glass, rather than bubbly, crusts. The bluish color may be the result of the natural iron and magnesium in the lava.

Most of the ground work today was to establish the location and estimated size of the two lava tubes coming out of the June 27th vent area on the north flank of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō cone. The area in this image is between the cone's north flank and a perched pond that formed last summer (arc-shaped feature on the right side of the image).

The March 09 breakouts, which issued from the vicinity of Pu‘u Kahauale‘a, has advanced northward (to the left) and reached the forest at the north edge of the Kahauale‘a flows and was burning vegetation along its edges. The most recent active pāhoehoe lobes from the February 21st breakout are visible in the foreground.

Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Crater again hosts a small lava lake near its southern edge (lower left) in addition to a hornito in the northeast corner (near right edge of image) with several glowing holes at its top.

pāhoehoe lobes continue to be active at the leading edge of the February 21st breakout.

As reported since March 12, the leading edge just upslope of the Pahoa Marketplace, is inactive. The active breakouts noted today were more than 14 km (8.7 mi) straight-line distance from the Marketplace.

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

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 27 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of March 10 is shown in red.

This map overlays a georegistered mosaic of thermal images collected during a helicopter overflight of the distal part of Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow on March 10 at about 10:35 AM. The base image is a satellite image acquired in March 2014 (provided by Digital Globe).

This map overlays a georegistered mosaic of thermal images collected during a helicopter overflight of Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow west of Kaohe Homesteads on March 10 at about 10:30 AM. The perimeter of the flow at the time the imagery was acquired is outlined in yellow.

This map overlays georegistered mosaics of thermal images collected during a helicopter overflight of Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow near Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō on March 10 at about 10:25 AM. The perimeter of the flow at the time the imagery was acquired is outlined in yellow.

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 27 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of March 10 is shown in red.

There were two breakouts from the upper tube system on and at the foot of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Cone (right center). The largest and most active was the breakout nearest Pu‘u Kahauale‘a in the left center of the photograph.

Closeup of the new breakout near Pu‘u Kahauale‘a.

The leading edge of the lobe nearest Pahoa Marketplace is still stalled but, for the past few days, a new breakout has been advancing along its southern margin and is approaching the AP‘A‘ā St. firebreak.

Several breakouts were active upslope of the stalled front. This breakout issued from an inflated tumulus along the north margin of the June 27th flow.

The thin crust over the lava lake within the Halema‘uma‘u Overlook crater was moving slowly to the southeast. During our overflight, there was no spattering and wispy gas emissions allowed clear views.

Left: Christina (Tina) Neal leaves the snowy stratovolcanoes of Alaska, where she spent almost 25 years as a USGS geologist with the Alaska Volcano Observatory, to become the new Scientist-in-Charge of the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory on March 8, 2015. Photo courtesy of Tina Neal.