Images

Invasive species Giant Salvinia and Water Hyacinth clog one end of Lake Murphy. Lake Murphy is home to three of Louisiana’s most problematic invasive aquatic plant species: Giant Salvinia, Water Hyacinth, and Hydrilla.

Invasive species Giant Salvinia, Hydrilla, and Water Hyacinth clog one end of Lake Murphy. Lake Murphy is home to these three of Louisiana’s most problematic invasive aquatic plant species. As the record-setting 2011 floodwaters push through the Atchafalaya Basin, USGS crews are monitoring these invasive species to see what effects the water have on them.

A camp lies flooded on the edge of the Florida Gas Canal. Rising floodwaters during the 2011 flood have inundated many hunting camps and residences. Flooded even before the additional water from the Morganza Spillway arrived, these camps were built on land that is usually well above the water level and safely back from the canal's edge.

A USGS streamgage station lies mostly submerged. Following rising floodwaters during the 2011 flood, USGS crews removed sensitive streamgage equipment and replaced them with special, pressure-operated streamgage monitoring equipment that could survive being inundated with water.

A USGS streamgage station lies mostly submerged. Following rising floodwaters during the 2011 flood, USGS crews removed sensitive streamgage equipment and replaced them with special, pressure-operated streamgage monitoring equipment that could survive being inundated with water.

USGS Louisiana Water Science Center Director George Arcement looks at a houseboat parked on the north end of Lake Murphy. Houseboats are a common feature in the Atchafalaya Basin, where people live in them year round, or merely keep them as a hunting or vacation camp.

View from above Mauna Loa's upper Northeast Rift Zone looking across an unnamed cone toward Mauna Kea.

Shield-volcano Mauna Kea viewed from the northern slope of Mauna Loa (cinder cones in the foreground) shows off its broad shield shape. The bumps on its profile are large cinder cones.

The floor of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater continues its slow rise as lava pours out of a new vent at the base of the east wall. The height of the floor has risen 20 m (66 ft) over the past two weeks.

A close-up of the spattering source on the floor of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater. A small spatter rampart has formed along the east side of the vent.

Aerial view of the perched lava lake in Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater. Small fluctuations in the lava lake level lead to frequent overflows. These serve to build the levee around the lake even higher, amplifying the perched appearance.

A low-angle view of the perched lava lake shows how it is elevated above the floor of the crater, like an above-ground swimming pool. The levee around the stands some 8-10 m (26-33 ft) above the surrounding crater floor. Also visible as the bottom of the photo is a new vent which began erupting around midnight last night on the western edge of the crater floor.

A close-up view of the 1984 fissure that cut through the southwest side of Mauna Loa's 1940 vent cone. The crack on the right side of the cone is the 1984 fissure.

An aerial view of the 1940 cinder-and-spatter cone on the floor of Mauna Loa's summit caldera as seen from the southeast. The west wall of the caldera (background) is about 170 m (560 feet) high. Most of the caldera floor around the cone is covered by lava flows erupted in 1984.

Aerial view of Mauna Loa's upper northeast rift zone near the area where it intersects Moku‘āweoweo, the summit caldera. Pāhoehoe flows visible in the foreground were erupted in 1942. Distant steep cliffs (right background) are the west wall of the summit caldera.

A view of Moku‘āweoweo, the summit caldera of Mauna Loa, as seen from South Pit (looking to the north-northwest). An eruption in 1940 created the cinder-and-spatter cone visible on the caldera floor (right center). This cone, which is about 114 m (373 feet) high, is the largest cone at Mauna Loa's summit.

This aerial view of Mauna Loa's summit shows the cinder-cone and lava flows that were erupted in 1949. The crack extending down the left side of the cone is the northeast-southwest trending 1984 fissure that bisected the southwest flank of the cone during the initial phase of the eruption. Light-brown tephra erupted from the 1949 cone thins to the west.

View looking up Mauna Loa's spectacular Southwest Rift Zone. Pu‘u o Keokeo fills the lower half of the photo. The black lava beyond is mostly from 1916 and 1926. The summit of Mauna Loa is in the background.

This view of Mauna Loa's 1940 vent cone, looking to the southwest, shows a fissure that bisected it during the 1984 eruption (crack on the right side of the cone). Pāhoehoe flows and spatter erupted from the 1984 fissure blanket the caldera floor northwest of the cone (foreground).

This view of Mauna Loa's summit is looking toward the northeast. The east flank of Mauna Kea is to the left, and North Pit, on the northeast end of Moku‘āweoweo, is straight ahead.

The high point of Mauna Loa, in the background at an elevation of about 13,679 ft, is actually just the highest point along the rim of the steep cliffs that surround Mauna Loa's summit caldera, Moku‘āweoweo, Dark-colored lava flows of recent vintage (1984) cover the floor of Moku‘āweoweo. View is looking southwest.