Images

This image was collected from a thermal camera at the Halema`uma`u Overlook, and shows the current activity at the summit. The active lava pond, about 40 m across, is situated deep within the vent cavity, at a depth of about 200 m. The lava surface consists of slowly migrating crustal plates, with a spattering source on the east margin of the pond.

A lava flow burns what little vegetation is left in this small kipuka at the top of the pali.

The forward looking infrared (FLIR) image on the right is a close-up infrared image of the current flow field, shown on the left. FLIR is an imaging technology that senses infrared radiation.

A small active pāhoehoe flow overplating an older 'a'ā flow on the upper TEB flow field. There were a few small scattered breakouts above the pali, but the majority of the surface activity was flowing through Royal Gardens and onto the coastal plain.

The upper TEB flow field, looking south. The fuming hole in the foreground is the TEB vent. The other fume sources, which help delineate the lava tube, are coming from collapsed areas down the tube system.

Janelle Dyer dispenses a filtered ash leachate sample into a sample bottle for ion chromatography analysis for anions such as fluoride, chloride, sulfate, and nitrate.

Scientist Christoph Kern adjusts the alignment of optics on the active long-path differential optical absorption spectroscopy (LP-DOAS) instrument. LP-DOAS sends a beam of ultraviolet or visible light to a reflector located tens to hundreds of meters away.

The USGS operates a real-time lake elevation monitoring gage on Spirit Lake to ensure water level does not exceed a safe limit. In 1985, the U.S.

The lava flows on the coastal plain, which show up as the light colored flows in the foreground, are erupted into the TEB tube system from the D fissure which first opened up in July 2007. This vent is faintly visible as a fuming source in the background near the upper left corner of the photo.

Lava, showing up here as the light colored area, continues to creep across the coastal plain toward the national park, having now reached about 1.3 km (0.8 miles) out from the base of the pali.

The currently active flows on the pali continue to chip away at the few remaining streets in the beleaguered Royal Gardens subdivision. Those visible here are pretty much all that's left, with the exception of one small kipuka out of sight to the right.

As the lava tube becomes better established, the surface flows on the pali will probably die out while the flows on the coastal plain continue to move toward the ocean.

Lava flows remain active within the Royal Gardens subdivision and onto the coastal plain below. The number of surface flows has decreased however, due in part to a probable decrease in activity related to the ongoing deflation of Pu`u `Ō `ō, and because the new lava tube branch feeding the flows is becoming better developed.

Lava flow moving down a steep portion of the pali, burning vegetation in the remaining portion of the Royal Gardens subdivision. As the slope decreases, the 'a'ā flows fan out onto the coastal plain.

Lava flow moving down a steep portion of the pali, burning vegetation in the remaining portion of the Royal Gardens subdivision. As the slope decreases, the 'a'ā flows fan out onto the coastal plain.

Lava flow moving down a steep portion of the pali, burning vegetation in the remaining portion of the Royal Gardens subdivision. Areas of the forest go up in flames as the 'a'ā flow pushes its way through the vegetation at the base of the pali, and flows onto the coastal plain.

Lava flow moving down a steep portion of the pali, burning vegetation in the remaining portion of the Royal Gardens subdivision. Areas of the forest go up in flames as the 'a'ā flow pushes its way through the vegetation at the base of the pali, and flows onto the coastal plain.

Lava flow moving down a steep portion of the pali, burning vegetation in the remaining portion of the Royal Gardens subdivision. Six channelized flows meander down a steep portion of the pali, burning vegetation in the remaining portion of Royal Gardens subdivision.

Lava flow moving down a steep portion of the pali, burning vegetation in the remaining portion of the Royal Gardens subdivision. Six channelized flows meander down a steep portion of the pali, burning vegetation in the remaining portion of Royal Gardens subdivision.

Graduate student Allison Payne (USGS ARRA student appointment) uses a binocular microscope to pick out minerals that contain tiny melt inclusions from 2009 Redoubt tephra samples. Melt inclusions are then analyzed with a SHRIMP - Sensitive High Resolution Ion Microprobe - for their volatile (H2O and CO2) content.

This two-image mosaic is one of the highest resolution views acquired by the Cassini spacecraft during its imaging survey of the geyser basin capping the southern hemisphere of Saturn's moon Enceladus.