Images

A small, but fairly vigorous, breakout was active this afternoon about 1 km (0.6 miles) behind the tip of the flow. This is the narrowest part of the flow, with a width of about 30 m (33 yards). The smoke in the distance is from surface lava near the front of the flow. The view is to the northeast.

This photo shows a closer view of the picturesque breakout at the narrow section of the flow.

Breakouts were also active much farther upslope. Leaks from the lava tube near the True/Mid-Pacific geothermal well site (at left) have been active for a couple of weeks, and are slowly invading forest to the north. View is to the west-southwest.

A breakout from the lava tube has also been active on the upper part of the flow field near Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō since December 5. The smoke is from a narrow finger of lava burning lichen on an older Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō lava flow. Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō is at upper right. The view is to the south-southwest.

This satellite image was captured on Friday, December 19, by the Advanced Land Imager instrument onboard NASA's Earth Observing 1 satellite. Although this is a false-color image, the color map has been chosen to mimic what the human eye would expect to see. Bright red pixels depict areas of very high temperatures and show active lava. White areas are clouds.

This map uses a satellite image acquired in March 2014 (provided by Digital Globe) as a base to show the area around the front of Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow. The area of the flow on December 18 at 11:15 AM is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as mapped on December 19 at 8:30 AM is shown in red

Kīlauea's East Rift Zone lava flow continues to advance downslope toward the Pahoa Marketplace. This photo is of a small breakout from the edge of the inflated flow several hundred meters (yards) back from the active front.

This photo gives the general appearance of the surface of the flow, looking upslope, where the flow is narrower on slightly steeper terrain. It is normal for trees within the flow path to not burn after they topple. By the time the trees fall over, the surface crust of the flow has cooled below their ignition temperature.

This large-scale map shows the distal part of Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow in relation to nearby Puna communities. The area of the flow on December 16 at 11:15 AM is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as mapped on December 18 at 11:15 AM is shown in red.

This map uses a satellite image acquired in March 2014 (provided by Digital Globe) as a base to show the area around the front of Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow. The area of the flow on December 16 at 11:15 AM is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as mapped on December 18 at 11:15 AM is shown in red

Kīlauea Volcano's active lava flow, shown here on December 12, continues to advance toward the community of Pāhoa. Updates on this lava flow will be included in several presentations offered during Volcano Awareness Month in January 2015. See https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/observatories/hvo/ for details.

The leading tip of active lava on the June 27th flow continues downslope, through thick vegetation, towards the northeast. The active front this morning was 1 km (0.6 miles) upslope of Pahoa Marketplace, as measured along the line of steepest descent.

This photo looks downslope towards Highway 130. The leading tip of the flow has widened over the past few days, and branched into two fingers - both of which are heading in the same general northeast direction.

This shows a comparison of a normal photograph looking downslope with a thermal image. The white box shows the rough extent of the thermal image. In the thermal image, white and yellow pixels show active surface lava, which is focused along the leading edge of the flow.

In addition to active surface lava at the leading tip of the flow, breakouts were active about 2 km (1.2 miles) upslope of the leading tip. These breakouts were scattered and feeding several small lobes.

Even farther upslope, in the area of ground cracks, there were two small breakouts burning vegetation on the north margin of the flow. This photograph looks west, and Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō can be seen on the horizon.

Still farther upslope, about 3 km (roughly 2 miles) northeast of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, scattered breakouts were active.

A comparison of a normal photograph and a thermal image showing an HVO geologist collecting an active lava sample. The lava is quenched in the bucket of water. Lava samples like this are routinely collected for chemical analysis, which provides insight into the magmatic system feeding the eruption.

Preview image for video: provides a brief aerial overview of the active flow front.

This large-scale map shows the distal part of Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow in relation to nearby Puna communities. The area of the flow on December 9 at 2:30 PM is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as mapped on December 16 at 11:15 AM is shown in red.

This small-scale map shows Kīlauea's active East Rift Zone lava flow in relation to lower Puna. The area of the flow on December 9 at 2:30 PM is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as mapped on December 16 at 11:15 AM is shown in red.