Images

Breakouts remain active in three general areas near Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō: 1) at the northern base of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, 2) just north of Kahauale‘a, and 3) the most distal breakout, about 6 km (4 miles) northeast of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. This photograph shows much of the most distal breakout, a portion of which was burning forest. Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō can be seen near the top of the photograph.

The breakout north of Kahauale‘a has one lobe that has traveled along the west side of the perched lava channel that was active in late 2007. This breakout consists of blue glassy pāhoehoe, which is easily visible in the photograph on the left. The white box shows the rough extent of the thermal image on the right.

In the time since our last overflight (March 24), a new collapse pit has formed in the western portion of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Crater. This circular pit can be seen in the lower left portion of the photograph, and measures about 27 m (roughly 90 ft) in diameter. Numerous hot cracks were observed in this general area during previous visits on foot.

A closer look at the new pit in the western portion of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Crater. Views inside the crater with the naked eye were obscured by thick fume, but the thermal images (right) revealed two areas of ponded lava, separated by a pile of collapse rubble, deep within the pit.

A closer look at the lava flow field near Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō is in the upper left portion of the photograph. Slightly above and to the right of the center of the photograph, the light colored area of lava is the active breakout (which started on February 21) on the north flank of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō.

The pāhoehoe flows that moved through Kalapana in 1990 (left) were hotter, more fluid, and faster-moving than the lava flow that reached to within 155 m (170 yds) of Pāhoa Village Road in October 2014 (right). USGS photos.

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the flow on March 10, before shutting down near Pāhoa, is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow based on satellite imagery from April 1 is shown in red.

There are several incandescent and outgassing hornitos on the floor of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō's crater, including the one shown here, which is at the northeast edge of the crater. Recent flows from the hornito appear black.

This map shows the changes to Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the flow on March 17 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of March 24 is shown in red. Small changes west of Pu‘u Kahauale‘a are not shown, as that part of the flow field was hidden by Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō's gas plume at the time of mapping.

Breakouts are active in three general areas near Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō: at the northern base of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, north Kahauale‘a, and about 6 km (4 mi) northeast of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. The distal breakout and the breakout north of Kahauale‘a are both burning forest. There is no eruptive activity downslope from the distal breakout (nothing active near Pāhoa).

‘A‘ā lava flows erupt from the Northeast Rift Zone of Mauna Loa on March 25, 1984—the first day of the volcano's most recent eruption. USGS photo.

HVO geologists get fresh lava samples as close to the vent as possible. Once the sample is scooped from the pāhoehoe lobe, it is quickly quenched in a bucket of water to stop the growth of any crystals and to preserve the composition of the liquid lava.

This map overlays georegistered mosaics of thermal images collected during a helicopter overflight of the three areas of breakouts near Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō on March 17 at about 8:00 AM. The perimeter of the flow at the time the imagery was acquired is outlined in yellow.

After establishing an appropriate location to resume VLF measurements over the June 27th lava tube to estimate the cross-sectional area of lava within the tube, HVO geologists make the measurements, sometimes requiring walking through volcanic gases.

The VLF radio wave, transmitted from the Lualualei Naval Base on O‘ahu, is received by the handheld device. The numbers are read and recorded. These data will allow the estimation of the cross-sectional area of lava within the tube.

First recognized in Kalapana in 1990, these pāhoehoe flows appear bluish with dense, glassy crusts. These lavas are generally observed later in the life of an inflated pāhoehoe flow. The degassed nature of the lava promotes the formation of solid glass, rather than bubbly, crusts. The bluish color may be the result of the natural iron and magnesium in the lava.

Most of the ground work today was to establish the location and estimated size of the two lava tubes coming out of the June 27th vent area on the north flank of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō cone. The area in this image is between the cone's north flank and a perched pond that formed last summer (arc-shaped feature on the right side of the image).

The March 09 breakouts, which issued from the vicinity of Pu‘u Kahauale‘a, has advanced northward (to the left) and reached the forest at the north edge of the Kahauale‘a flows and was burning vegetation along its edges. The most recent active pāhoehoe lobes from the February 21st breakout are visible in the foreground.

Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Crater again hosts a small lava lake near its southern edge (lower left) in addition to a hornito in the northeast corner (near right edge of image) with several glowing holes at its top.

pāhoehoe lobes continue to be active at the leading edge of the February 21st breakout.

As reported since March 12, the leading edge just upslope of the Pahoa Marketplace, is inactive. The active breakouts noted today were more than 14 km (8.7 mi) straight-line distance from the Marketplace.