Images

Destruction caused by the 1868 great Ka'ū earthquake included the Wai'ōhinu church, shown here, in the Ka'ū District of Hawaiʻi Island. With a magnitude estimated at 7.9, the earthquake is the largest in Hawaii's recorded history. Photo by Henry L. Chase, published in "Volcanoes of Kīlauea and Mauna Loa on the Island of Hawaiʻi" by W.T.

[Left] This cross-section through the south part of the Island of Hawai'i illustrates the hypocenter of the 1868 great Kaʻū earthquake (red star), located on the décollement (bold black line) between Mauna Loa (brown) and the ancient ocean floor (tan). Earth's lithospheric mantle and the ocean are represented in green and blue, respectively.

Jackson Currie of the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center drives a personal watercraft (PWC) offshore of Butterfly Beach in Montecito, California. The equipment on the PWC collects bathymetry, or depth, data which is used to map the nearshore. USGS has been mapping this area twice yearly—every spring and fall—since 2005.

USGS volunteer Josh Brown on Santa Claus Beach, Carpinteria, at the start of a 14-mile walking survey of southern California beaches. The differential GPS equipment carried in the backpack collects elevation, or topographic, data of the beach, accurate to about 1 inch (2 centimeters) both horizontally and vertically.

USGS geomorphologist Pat Limber drives an all-terrain vehicle equipped with differential GPS, on San Buenaventura Beach south of Ventura Pier, Ventura California, collects topographic, or elevation and contour, data. These data, accurate to about 1 inch (about 2 centimeters) both horizontally and vertically, are used to monitor seasonal beach changes.

Jackson Currie and Alex Snyder of the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center drive personal watercraft (PWCs) offshore of San Ysidro and Oak Creeks, which let out onto Miramar Beach in Montecito, California.

Footprints in mud layer deposited on the sand at Miramar Beach in Montecito, California, by January 9 flood waters coming down San Ysidro Creek.

Drone image of Nauset Inlet, Cape Cod National Seashore, Massachusetts

On March 25, between 10:06 and 10:08 p.m., a small lava flow began erupting onto the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater floor for the first time since May 2016. In this thermal image, taken by the PTcam today (March 26) at 1:18 p.m., the flow (bright color) appears to be supplied by one of the small spatter cones in the crater's south embayment.

Dr. Nial Peters from the University of Cambridge sets up the prototype radar on the rim of Halema‘uma‘u at the summit of Kīlauea in January 2018. Microwave pulses are transmitted from one dish towards the lava lake surface. Some of the microwave energy is reflected back and is received by the other dish.

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the eruption within Halema‘uma‘u at the summit of Kīlauea Volcano. When the vent first opened on March 19, 2008, it formed a small pit about 115 feet (35 m) wide. Over the past decade, that pit (informally called the "Overlook crater") has grown into a gaping hole about 919 feet by 656 feet (280 x 200 m) in size.

To mark the 10th anniversary of Kīlauea Volcano's summit eruption, USGS-Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologist Matt Patrick talks about his work monitoring the lava lake in Halema'uma'u Crater, for a USGS Volcanoes Facebook Live event.

When Matt measured the lava lake level this morning, the lake surface was 89 feet (27 m) below the Overlook crater rim. With the lava lake at that level, spattering on the lake surface could be seen from the Jaggar Museum overlook in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park today.

Brett Tipple (University of California, Santa Cruz) collects a sample of charcoal and soil adjacent to a gully forming on a hillslope above Sonoma Creek, which was burned by the Nuns wildfire in October 2017.

John Pohlman (USGS), David Brankovits (USGS/WHOI) and Jake Emmert (MG) deploy acoustic devices in open water sinkhole (or cenote) prior to a 6-month long installation in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico cave

On March 14, HVO's webcam [MLcam] captured this image of a double rainbow, which seems to end in Moku‘āweoweo, the caldera at the summit of Mauna Loa. No pots of gold were observed—only patches of snow from recent winter storms.

Just before noon today, HVO's summit webcam (KIcam) captured this striking image of Kīlauea Volcano's ongoing summit eruption. A small rockfall on the north side of the Overlook crater triggered a small explosion in the lava lake, sending a dark-colored ash plume skyward.

HVO's HMcam also captured an image of today's rockfall and subsequent explosion (upper right) as it occurred.

On November 5, 1967, a line of vigorous lava fountains erupted on the floor of Halema‘uma‘u at the summit of Kīlauea. Lava soon covered the entire crater floor as volcanic gases billowed skyward (aerial view). Near the center, a pool of molten lava repeatedly overflowed a levee of crusted lava, spilling flows onto the lava-covered crater floor (inset).

Within Kīlauea Volcano's summit lava lake, vigorous spattering was occurring on the southern margin where a ledge of solidified lava has built out from the vent wall. The vigorous spattering site was active in an indentation in the ledge.

A photo of the ledge that is building on Halema‘uma‘u lava lake's southern ledge. Small collapses of the unstable ledge are also common.