Images

A weak plume today (September 26) on the far (west) side of the delta provided great views of changes at the ocean entry. Over the past few weeks there have been repeated breakouts on the delta which have resurfaced over half of the roughly 10 acre (4 hectare) delta, as mapped on September 21.

A view of the breakout point of the easternmost of two short-lived breakouts that began on September 23. This thin pāhoehoe breakout (lighter flow in center of photo) started approximately 45 m (49 yards) upslope of the sea cliff, and on the eastern side of the lava tube that feeds the ocean entry.

HVO geologists change data cards on a time-lapse camera positioned on the rim of the west pit within Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Crater. A lava pond has been active in this pit for over a year, and the time-lapse camera tracks changes in the pond activity.

An example time-lapse image from the camera shown to the left. This image is from September 14 and shows typical activity in the lava pond, with spattering along the western pond margin.

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the active flow field as of September 1 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the active flow as of September 21 is shown in red. Older Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō lava flows (1983-2016) are shown in gray. The yellow line is the trace of the active lava tube.

This map is similar to the map above but shows a thermal map over the Episode 61g lava flow. Cooler colors (blue and green) show cooled, inactive portions of the flow surface. Hot colors (red and orange) show areas of active surface breakouts.

Aerial view of Halema‘uma‘u, showing typical spattering activity at the south lake margin. Golden brown Pele's hair is covering the previous lake overflows which are darker in color. The plume was light at the time of the overflight, allowing a view of the southern wall, which recently experienced two collapses exposing the lighter wall rock beneath.

Aerial view from the top of the pali, looking towards the ocean entry. The lighter silver lava flow breakouts over the past week have spread out at the base of the pali. The closest location of activity is 1.6 km (1 mile) from the gravel road. Fume is rising from the main lava tube on the right of the image.

The front half of the lava delta is shown, with an open lava stream left of center. In the upper left is a circular rubble feature, called a shatter ring, which formed between Aug 15 and Sept 19, and is the source of many of the lava flows on the left (west) side of the image.

Scientists prepare to lower a piston corer off Haida Gwaii, British Columbia, to sample seafloor sediment near the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather fault. Expedition scientists are studying layers of sediment in the cores they collected to identify and determine ages of past earthquakes along the fault.

Top: Map view of well recorded historical seismicity at Mount Rainier since 2007 (gray circles) with seismicity since September 11 plotted as filled red circles. Location of seismic stations indicated by arrows. Bottom: Cross-sectional view looking north shows earthquake depths. Black outline is a west-east elevation profile of Mount Rainier.

This video shows the Kamokuna lava delta growing and sinking over a 1 month time span between 15 August 2017 and 19 September 2017. Made from one image every other day. The video is looped 10 times, with the loop number in the upper left corner.

A shatter ring forms and grows on the Kamokuna lava delta. This video shows repeated uplift and subsidence of the delta surface by the lava supply under the surface. This process creates a large round rubble pile, called a shatter ring.

There were nice views of the 61g lava delta today (September 19) from the public viewing area. Many streams of lava were entering the ocean on the eastern side of the delta creating a robust plume. Over the past week, there have been repeated breakouts near the center of the delta, increasing its size.

A telephoto of a stream of lava pouring from the delta to the beach below. As the cold sea water hits the hot lava, explosive interactions break apart the rock to form the sandy beach seen at the deltas base.

Mary McGann (left, USGS) and Rachel Lauer (University of Calgary) sample pore fluids from sediment cores collected aboard the Canadian Coast Guard Ship John P. Tully along the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather fault offshore of southeast Alaska.

Aerial view of Mauna Loa erupting on the morning of March 25, 1984, the first day of the volcano's most recent eruption. The lava flow was advancing southeast, toward Kīlauea, from fissure vents at an elevation of about 11,200 feet on Mauna Loa's Northeast Rift Zone. Moku‘āweoweo, Mauna Loa's summit caldera, is visible at top left.

A USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologist monitored the advance of an ‘A‘ā lava flow on April 6 during the 1984 Mauna Loa eruption. This flow was about 4 m (13 ft) high and advancing at a rate of 50 m (55 yards) per hour. Lava reached within 6 km (4 mi) of Hilo city limits before the 22-day-long eruption ended on April 15.

Spattering is common in Kīlauea Volcano's summit lava lake, and consists of many large bursting gas bubbles. The fluid nature of the lake can be seen when lava hits the wall and flows downward like syrup. The thin, flexible nature of the crust is also shown here, as the bursting gas bubbles rip and fold the thin skin on the lake.

This panorama, taken from the eastern rim of Halema‘uma‘u, shows the lava lake within the Overlook crater. The lake surface this morning was about 40 meters (130 ft) below the floor of Halema‘uma‘u. Mauna Loa spans much of the skyline near the center of the image; HVO and Jaggar Museum can be seen on the distant caldera rim (right side of image).

Wispy fumes provided a clear view of the western wall of the Overlook crater this morning. Just above the lake surface (bottom of photo), a "bathtub ring" extends up the wall several meters, marking a recent high stand of the lake. Above that, a thick span of red, white and yellow rock is exposed in the crater wall.