Images

HVO geologists captured this image of a Koa‘e kea (white-tailed tropicbird) flying high over the summit lava lake this morning (visible between the two spattering sources). These graceful birds nest in the crater walls of Halema‘uma‘u and other rocky cliffs in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, but fly to the ocean to feed.

This movie shows a sequence of 8 time-lapse photos—one photo per day from July 6 to July 13, 2017—of the lava delta at Kīlauea Volcano's Kamokuna ocean entry. The sequence shows the front of the delta subsiding, and cracks running parallel to the coast widening, over the 8-day time period.

Scattered breakouts continue on the coastal plain inland of the Kamokuna ocean entry, but are relatively weak and have not advanced much over the past week. Breakouts were located about 1.8 km (1.1 miles) upslope of the emergency access road.

Mount Hood photographed near Parkdale, Oregon.

Joseph Terrano of the USGS St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center retrieves a sediment sample from under the marsh grass. Scientists installed several Net Sediment Tiles (NST) on the surface of the marsh to measure sediment deposition.

A beautiful sunset over Mauna Loa (in distance at left) provided a backdrop to the lava lake within Halema‘uma‘u. HVO and Jaggar Museum are on the horizon near the center of the panorama.

Crustal foundering, in which pieces of the thin, flexible lake crust sink beneath the surface, is common in the southern portion of the lake.

This video clip shows spattering along the south margin of the summit lava lake. Note the large slab of crust migrating into the spatter site, where it is consumed. Unfortunately, wind noise masks much of the spattering sound in this video.

The June 26 breakout continues to advance across the coastal plain. Today, July 21, the front of this breakout was approximately 350 m (0.2 miles) wide, and roughly 2 km (1.2 miles) from the closest points in the emergency access road.

The Kamokuna ocean entry and lava delta remain active, with no obvious changes over the past week. The large coast-parallel crack that spans the width of the delta (seen from lower-left to upper-right of image) remains prominent, and highlights the instability of the delta.

Clear weather provided good views of the lava lake at Kīlauea Volcano's summit. The activity this evening was typical for the lava lake, with variable spattering along the lake margins. Spattering shown here was in the southeast part of the lake, which is the most common site for spattering.

At about 7:00 p.m., the spattering was intense along the south margin of the lava lake.

About ten minutes after the photo at left, the spattering diminished and retreated to a small site within a small grotto.

Kīlauea Volcano's Kamokuna ocean entry photographed on May 23, 2017 (left) and July 13, 2017 (right) show how lava flowing from the tube has both widened and thickened the delta. Near the sea cliff, the delta appears to have doubled in thickness over the past seven weeks, creating a distinctly sloped surface from the base of the cliff to the sea.

Lead-in to the Mud Creek slide UAS (drone) footage, Big Sur, California, July 19. 2017.

The small computer, or “micro-controller,” at the bottom of this photo controls the operation of two video cameras mounted on the 10-story Dream Inn hotel in Santa Cruz, California.

"Geologic map of the northeast flank of Mauna Loa volcano, Island of Hawai‘i," published by the U.S. Geological Survey in May 2017, shows the distribution of lava flows and other deposits covering an area from Pu‘u‘Ula‘ula ("Red Hill") on the southwest to Hilo on the northeast.

Geologists visiting the June 26 breakout today (July 13) found the front (pictured) stalled with no active lava visible. There has been no significant advancement of the flow front since July 8, and is still 2.2 km (1.4 miles) from the road.

This video clip (at x30 speed) shows the pāhoehoe breakouts on the coastal plain.

There have been no major changes at the Kamokuna ocean entry or lava delta. The delta remains unstable, with a large crack (noted earlier this week) that spans the entire width of the delta.

Near San Simeon, view looks north up Highway 1 along the California coast toward Big Sur.