Images

The summit of Mauna Loa (left) rises above the vog layer on the leeward side of the Island of Hawai‘i in November 2012. The flank of Hualālai is visible at right.

The active flow front was about 780 m (0.5 miles) from the shoreline today, with a portion of the flow front following along the margin of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. In this photo, the recently active flow margin (lighter color flows) stalled just a meter or so from one of the Park boundary signs.

This image was captured on Saturday, November 3, by the Advanced Land Imager sensor aboard 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 or very recently active lava flows.

Time-lapse camera image captured on October 1 from the north rim of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō showing the small lava lake in the pit on the northeastern edge of the crater floor. The fume in the background is rising from two openings on the southeastern side of the crater.

Time-lapse camera image from the north rim of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō captured on November 1. The northeastern pit has been filled, and the lava lake is now contained within levees, perched higher than the adjacent crater floor. The lake is weakly spattering behind the new cone in the foreground to the left side of the image.

Time-lapse camera image captured on October 1 from the north rim of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō showing the small lava lake in the pit on the northeastern edge of the crater floor. The fume in the background is rising from two openings on the southeastern side of the crater.

Time-lapse camera image from the north rim of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō captured on November 1. The northeastern pit has been filled, and the lava lake is now contained within levees, perched higher than the adjacent crater floor. The lake is weakly spattering behind the new cone in the foreground to the left side of the image.

This view towards the southeast shows the vent area and upper lava tube system. In the lower right is Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater, with a small circular lava lake in the northeast portion of the crater floor.

This thermal image shows an overview of active surface flows today. There was a small area of active surface flows near the top of the pali, at the top of Royal Gardens subdivision, but most of the surface flows were active on the coastal plain.

A closer view of the lava lake in the northeast portion of the crater floor at Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō.

At Halema‘uma‘u, the lava has dropped over the past week to levels more typical of the last few months. Today, the lava was slightly below the deep inner ledge, with spattering along the southwest lake margin.

Map showing the extent of lava flows erupted during Kīlauea's ongoing east rift zone eruption and labeled with the years in which they were active.

This thermal image shows an overview of active surface flows today. There was a small area of active surface flows near the top of the pali, at the top of Royal Gardens subdivision, but most of the surface flows were active on the coastal plain.

Mount Hood with Portland International Airport (Oregon) in the foreground. An ash-producing eruption of Mount Hood could ground air traffic and significantly impact commerce in surrounding states.

pāhoehoe flows are still active on the coastal plain but have advanced little over the past week. On today's field visit, the active flow front was about 1.3 km (0.8 miles) from the ocean. In the background, the remains of Royal Gardens subdivision can be seen on the pali, with the fume sources marking the path of the lava tube.

A close-up of spiny-textured pāhoehoe lava oozing out from a small crack in the crust.

A close-up of spiny-textured pāhoehoe lava oozing out from a small crack in the crust.

YVO Webcam, October 27, 2012. Webcam overlooks Biscuit Basin in Yellowstone National Park.

The lava lake fills Overlook crater, about 160 m (525 ft) across, contained within Halema‘uma‘u Crater. The walls of Halema‘uma‘u Crater show white in the middle distance, while the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and NPS Jaggar Museum, perched on the edge of Kīlauea Caldera, are visible as a small bump on the horizon.

Sunset, with the vigorous spattering source on the west margin of the lake visible.

Incandescent lines mark the boundaries between migrating crustal plates on the surface of the lava lake in Halema‘uma‘u crater. Here, and at other lava lakes across the world, these rifting zones have a characteristic zigzag pattern.