Images

The episode 61g flow from Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō continues advancing downslope. In this photo, the current flow is the lighter color area along the center of the image. The flow front has advanced about 770 m (0.5 miles) since the June 16 overflight, which equates to an advance rate of about 100 m per day (330 ft per day).

The lava pond in the western portion of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater remains active, and has enlarged since our last observation. The pond today was about 50 m (160 ft) in diameter, with spattering along the western margin.

An HVO geologist collects a fresh lava sample for chemical analysis. The lobe being sampled was typical of the many scattered pāhoehoe breakouts along the flow margin today.

HVO geologists conduct a VLF (very low frequency) survey across the episode 61g lava tube to measure the depth and cross-sectional area of lava flowing within the tube.

Incandescent vents are still open on the northeast flank of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. From the ground, no views of the lava were possible because the area around the vent was too unstable and dangerous to approach.

An aerial view of the same vent shown at left provided a look of the lava stream within the deep cavity.

This small-scale map shows Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow field in relation to the southeastern part of the Island of Hawai‘i. The area of the active flow field on June 10 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the active flow field as mapped on June 16 is shown in red. The area covered by the inactive June 27th flow is shown in orange.

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow field. The areas covered by the recent breakouts at Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō as of June 10 are shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the active flow as mapped on June 16 is shown in red. The inactive June 27th flow is shown in orange.

Though difficult to photograph, aerial views showed that this open vent was but a small window into a large, hot cavity beneath Puʻu ʻŌʻō's northeast flank in Hawaii Inside, streams of lava from an unseen source (or sources) closer to the crater rim (visible at lower right) were cascading toward the upper left into unknown depths.

The active surface flow from Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō is still advancing slowly downslope and was 4.4 km (2.7 miles) long when mapped today. Averaged over the past six days, the flow has been advancing at a rate of about 200 m (220 yards) per day.

This view is of the front of the active lava flow, looking upslope. Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō is partly obscured in the clouds at upper left. Most surface activity on the advancing flow is actually where the flow widens, upslope of the flow front.

The uppermost part of the nascent lava tube has several skylights, which reveal the lava stream within the flow, like capillaries beneath the skin. This is the uppermost skylight, just downstream from where the lava broke out from the east flank of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō on May 24.

The lava stream was flowing toward the photographer in this photo. Higher lava levels are preserved in the shelf-like protrusions on the darker orange wall to the left.

Several vents have opened on Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō's northeast flank since last December. A spatter cone grew over one of the vents in mid-May and is visible at the center of the photo emitting bluish fume. In recent weeks, a vent opened upslope from (to the left of) the spatter cone, revealing bright incandescence.

Though difficult to photograph, aerial views showed that this open vent was but a small window into a large, hot cavity beneath Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō's northeast flank. Inside, streams of lava from an unseen source (or sources) closer to the crater rim (visible at lower right) were cascading toward the upper left into unknown depths.

This small-scale map shows Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow field in relation to the southeastern part of the Island of Hawai‘i. The area of the active flow field on June 8 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow field as mapped on June 10 is shown in red.

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area covered by the June 27th flow (now inactive) as of June 2 is shown in orange. The areas covered by the recent breakouts at Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō as of June 8 are shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the active flow as mapped on June 10 is shown in red.

The only active surface lava on Kīlauea's East Rift Zone is the flow that erupted from the lower east flank of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō on May 24, 2014. This flow continues to advance southeast, and was 3.3 km (2.1 mi) long today (June 10). This photo shows the front of the flow; Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō is in the background.

A closer view of the flow front, with Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō in the background.

This rapidly moving ‘A‘ā lava flow was one of several that advanced down the west flank of Mauna Loa during the volcano's 1950 eruption. The massive flow, tens of meters (yards) high, traveled from the Southwest Rift Zone vent to the ocean, a distance of about 18 km (11 mi), in around 18 hours.

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area covered by the June 27th flow (which may be inactive) as of June 2 is shown in orange. The areas covered by the recent breakouts at Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō as of June 2 are shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the new breakouts as mapped on June 8 is shown in red.