Images

The June 27 flow continues to advance at a brisk rate, and has reached the forest boundary over the past week. On today's overflight, thick plumes of smoke from burning vegetation partially obscured the flow front. See the "maps" link above for today's flow field map.

A wider view of the flow front, looking east. The June 27 flow is the lighter-colored lava passing through the center of the photograph.

A weak plume typically forms above small eruptions such as the April-May 2010 eruption of Eyjafjallajokull volcano, Iceland. A strong plume with a major umbrella cloud forms during very large eruptions, such as Pinatubo on June 15, 1991. During superuruptions, such clouds may push their way hundreds or thousands of kilometers upwind.

Example model output of possible ash distribution from a month-long Yellowstone supereruption. Results vary depending on wind and eruption conditions. Historical winds for January 2001 used here.

Landslides triggered by the magnitude-6.7 Kīholo Bay and magnitude-6.0 Māhukona earthquakes on October 15, 2006, stripped vegetation from the East Branch of HonokaKAHAKOne Nui Valley and extensively damaged the Kohala Ditch Trail that zigazags across the valley wall. USGS photo.

Map showing the June 27th flow at Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō in Kīlauea's East Rift Zone. The area of the flow as mapped on July 18 is shown in pink, while widening of the flow as of July 29 is shown in red.

Educators express enthusiasm for learning about Mount Rainier during a 2014 Cascades Volcano Observatory led teacher training.

Another view of the front of the June 27 flow, looking northeast. The flow front has narrowed as it has been confined against the slopes of the 2007 perched lava channel, and this is associated with a higher advance rate of the flow front over the past four days.

View, looking southwest, of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō and the new perched lava pond. Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō is the fume-filled crater in the top half of the image. The circular feature in the lower portion of the photograph is the perched lava pond active earlier this month, which was fed by the June 27 lava flow.

Visual-thermal comparison of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater, looking west. In the normal photograph on the left, large portions of the crater floor are obscured by thick volcanic fume. The thermal image on the right can "see" through this fume, revealing features in the crater. Over the past month, a large portion of the crater floor has subsided.

A time-lapse camera on the rim of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater captured this image at dawn. The view is towards the southeast, and shows two glowing pits in the southern portion of the crater floor. Our overflight the next day showed that these pits are filled with small lava ponds.

The June 27 flow front has advanced more rapidly over the past four days, and is now 4.2 km (2.6 miles) from the vent. This recent increased advance rate is due to the confinement of the flow against the slopes of an older perched lava channel, from 2007.

Thermocouple temperature measurement of a lava breakout from the June 27th lava flow, Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai‘i. Bulk calculated temp 1100ºC (2012ºF) 3 km (1.9 mi) from Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō source vent.

Glowing skylights and points of fume just right of center mark the trace of a new lava tube on the northeast side of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō (upper right), Kīlauea Volcano. The tube began forming when lava broke out last week near the right side of the perched lava pond (circular, bowl-shaped feature left of center).

Composite false-color Landsat-8 satellite image of Semisopochnoi Island on July 14, 2014, produced by combining the shortwave infrared, near infrared, and visible wavelength data. This color combination enhances the visualization of vegetation, exposed rocks, and snow (light blue).

Movie from a webcam positioned on the rim of Halema‘uma‘u, directly above the summit lava lake, showing the July 23 explosive event. The movie images were captured at 1 frame/second, and the playback speed is 12 frames/second.

Movie from a webcam positioned in the observation tower at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, next to Jaggar Museum, near the summit of Kīlauea, showing the July 23 explosive event. The movie images were captured at 2 frame/second, and the playback speed is 12 frames/second.

Just after 10 AM this morning, the southeastern wall of the Overlook crater, in Halema‘uma‘u, collapsed and fell into the summit lava lake. This triggered a small explosive event that threw spatter bombs onto the rim of Halema‘uma‘u at the site of the tourist overlook, closed since 2008.

The lava fragments ejected ranged in size from dust-sized particles up to spatter bombs about 70 cm (~30 inches) across. The larger clasts - the bombs - dotted the ground around the tourist overlook and webcam, giving the area a look reminiscent of a cow pasture.

The lava fragments ejected ranged in size from dust-sized particles up to spatter bombs about 70 cm (~30 inches) across. The larger clasts - the bombs - dotted the ground around the tourist overlook and webcam, giving the area a look reminiscent of a cow pasture.

As has been seen with almost all previous explosive events at Halema‘uma‘u since 2008, the spatter that was ejected was coated in dust and filled with small lithic fragments - clear evidence of the involvement of lithic wall rock. The knife is 12 cm (4.5 in) long.