Images

Pencil drawing of Ashton Flinders made by David Hill, long-time USGS scientists.

Jacky Verna is a budget analyst for the USGS Volcano Science Center. She is based out of the Cascades Volcano Observatory.

Photograph of Anthony Isham, Administrative Professional at the USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory.

Christoph Kern is a research physicist for the USGS Volcano Science Center and Volcano Disaster Assistance Program.

Hannah Dietterich is a research geophysicist who works at the USGS Alaska Volcano Observatory.

A view of the lava lake in Halema‘uma‘u crater, at the summit of Kīlauea, on Monday, December 13, 2021. Very little eruptive activity had been observed during the previous day at the summit. Over the past week, the lake level has continued to rise and covered more of the lowest down-dropped block (center left).

Photograph of Jonathan Parrish, an administrative professional with the USGS Volcano Science Center.

Photograph of Cyrus Read in the field in Alaska.  He designs installs and maintains equipment that monitors volcanoes and earthquakes for the Alaska Volcano Observatory.

A view of the western part of the lava lake within Halema‘uma‘u crater, at the summit of Kīlauea. Lava effusion from the west vent (lower left) had significantly decreased during the time of this photo. The western part of the lava lake surface was crusted over and had developed a noticeable topography, with islands perched within the lava lake.

Denis Staley stands on a rock formation in Alaska. He is a landslide hazard researcher based out of the Alaska Volcano Observatory.

The eruption in Halema'uma'u crater, at the summit of Kīlauea, continues.

This zoomed-in view of the western fissure within Halema‘uma‘u, at the summit of Kīlauea, was captured on December 10, 2021. In this photo, spatter is seen above a perched pond at the top of the cone. The volcanic plume originating at the cone is mostly white in color with a blue tinge, indicative of water vapor and sulfur dioxide, respectively. USGS image by N.

View of the active western half of the lava lake in Halema‘uma‘u at the Kīlauea summit. The main island that serves as a boundary between the active (west) and inactive (east) parts of the lake is the brown area in the middle right side of this photo.

Michelle Coombs is a volcanologist with the U.S. Geological Survey Volcano Hazards Program. She works out of the Alaska Science Center in Anchorage, Alaska.

Screen capture of the USGS Volcanoes Twitter header with the USGS Volcanoes logo and an image of the September 2021 summit eruption of Kilauea volcano.

Sunset on the evening of December 8, 2021, provided stunning views of the eruption in Halema'uma'u crater, at the summit of Kīlauea. This photograph, taken from the Keanakākoʻi overlook within Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, looks northwest from the south rim of Kīlauea caldera.

Photograph of Charles Mandeville, Program Coordinator, USGS Volcano Hazards Program

This zoomed-in view of the western fissure within Halema‘uma‘u, at the summit of Kīlauea, was captured on December 7, 2021, through the lens of a laser rangefinder.

On the sunny morning of December 3, at around 11 a.m. HST, the western vent in Halema‘uma‘u crater hissed with steam from large parts of the 19-meter-high (62 feet) cone after a rainfall earlier in the morning. Although the lava inside the cone was not visible, HVO field crews observed that lava continued to flow into the lava lake from the east side of the vent.

Red hot lava overturns the crust of the western end of the Halema‘uma‘u lava lake at the summit of Kīlauea volcano. These overturns are often seen along the edge of the lake by the 1-meter-high (3 ft) rim surrounding the active surface area. USGS image by J. Schmith.

Earthquakes detected by HVO’s seismic network in December 2021, with the size of the circles corresponding the earthquake magnitude and the color corresponding to the earthquake depth. The cluster of mostly blue earthquakes are from a persistent swarm about 30 km (19 miles) underneath Pāhala.