Aerial view of Halema‘uma‘u, showing typical spattering activity at the south lake margin. Golden brown Pele’s hair is covering the previous lake overflows which are darker in color. The plume was light at the time of the overflight, allowing a view of the southern wall, which recently experienced two collapses exposing the lighter wall rock beneath. Photo taken Thursday, September 21, 2017 courtesy of USGS/HVO
Aerial view from the top of the pali, looking towards the ocean entry. The lighter silver lava flow breakouts over the past week have spread out at the base of the pali. The closest location of activity is 1.6 km (1 mile) from the gravel road. Fume is rising from the main lava tube on the right of the image. The coastal entry plume is on the horizon, staying close to the ground near the Kamokuna delta. Photo taken Thursday, September 21, 2017 courtesy of USGS/HVO
The front half of the lava delta is shown, with an open lava stream left of center. In the upper left is a circular rubble feature, called a shatter ring, which formed between Aug 15 and Sept 19, and is the source of many of the lava flows on the left (west) side of the image. Yellow sulfur can be seen on some areas on the delta as well, especially on the right hand side of this image. Today the delta was measured at approximately 10 acres (4 hectares) in size. Photo taken Thursday, September 21, 2017 courtesy of USGS/HVO
HVO geologists change data cards on a time-lapse camera positioned on the rim of the west pit within Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ŠCrater. A lava pond has been active in this pit for over a year, and the time-lapse camera tracks changes in the pond activity. Photo taken Thursday, September 21, 2017 courtesy of USGS/HVO
An example time-lapse image from the camera shown in the previous photo. This image is from September 14 and shows typical activity in the lava pond, with spattering along the western pond margin. Photo taken Thursday, September 21, 2017 courtesy of USGS/HVO
A weak plume today (September 26) on the far (west) side of the delta provided great views of changes at the ocean entry. Over the past few weeks there have been repeated breakouts on the delta which have resurfaced over half of the roughly 10 acre (4 hectare) delta, as mapped on September 21. Many of the large delta cracks have been completely or partially covered by flows, but hazards at the ocean entry have not changed. On the far right cliff horizon, a thin silver flow that started on September 23 is just visible. Photo taken Tuesday, September 26, 2017 courtesy of USGS/HVO
A view of the breakout point of the easternmost of two short-lived breakouts that began on September 23. This thin pÄhoehoe breakout (lighter flow in center of photo) started approximately 45 m (49 yards) upslope of the sea cliff, and on the eastern side of the lava tube that feeds the ocean entry. This breakout stopped just before it reached the edge of the sea cliff. Photo taken Tuesday, September 26, 2017 courtesy of USGS/HVO
This western breakout also began on September 23, at a distance of approximately 90 m (98 yards) from the sea cliff. This pÄhoehoe (bottom edge has a yellow dotted outline) was more viscous than the breakout to the east, so the surface texture is less smooth and reflective, making it harder to distinguish between the older flows. The western breakout was also short-lived, and is no longer active, but did reach the sea cliff with a brief dribble over the edge. The littoral cone is visible in the center right of the photo with light gas fumes from the tube exit point onto the delta. The lighter eastern breakout is just visible abutting the littoral cone. Photo taken Tuesday, September 26, 2017 courtesy of USGS/HVO
Time-lapse thermal image movie of Halemaumau Overlook Vent. September 21-28, 2017. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO
Time-lapse movie of Halemaumau Overlook Vent. September 21-28, 2017. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO
Time-lapse movie of Halemaʻumaʻu Overlook Vent from Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. September 21-28, 2017. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO
Time-lapse movie of KÄ«lauea Caldera from Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. September 21-28, 2017. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO
Time-lapse movie of Halemaumau Crater looking Southwest. September 21-28, 2017. Images courtesy of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
(Activity updates are written by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.)
This past week, KÄ«lauea Volcano’s summit lava lake level fluctuated with summit inflation and deflation and ranged about 34-53 m (112–174 ft) below the vent rim. On the East Rift Zone, the 61g flow remained active, with lava entering the ocean near Kamokuna and surface breakouts downslope of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘Å. Active lava flows and a small collapse were observed on the Kamokuna lava delta this week, and it remains unstable with potential for larger collapses. The 61g flows do not pose an immediate threat to nearby communities.
Mauna Loa is not erupting. During the past week, small-magnitude earthquakes continued to occur beneath the summit caldera and upper Southwest Rift Zone, primarily at depths less than 5 km (3 mi), with some additional deeper events (5–13 km, or 3–8 mi). GPS measurements continue to show deformation related to inflation of a magma reservoir beneath the summit and upper Southwest Rift Zone. No significant changes in volcanic gas emissions were measured.
No earthquakes were reported felt in the Hawaiian Islands during the past week.
Time-lapse movie of Pu’u ‘O’o Crater. September 21-28, 2017. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO
Time-lapse movie from a camera positioned on the southeast flank of PuÊ»u ʻŌʻÅ, looking toward the active flow advancing to the southeast. The breakout point is at the left edge of the image, and the mid-field skyline at the right is roughly coincident with the top of the pali. September 21-28, 2017. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO
Time-lapse image movie from a research camera positioned on Holei Pali, looking east towards Lava Flow 61G and Kalapana. September 21-28, 2017. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO
This map shows recent changes to KÄ«lauea’s East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the active flow field as of September 1 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the active flow as of September 21 is shown in red. Older Pu‘u ‘Ō‘Šlava flows (1983–2016) are shown in gray. The yellow line is the trace of the active lava tube.
The blue lines over the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘Šflow field are steepest-descent paths calculated from a 2013 digital elevation model (DEM), while the blue lines on the rest of the map are steepest-descent paths calculated from a 1983 DEM (for calculation details, see http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2007/1264/). Steepest-descent path analysis is based on the assumption that the DEM perfectly represents the earth’s surface. DEMs, however, are not perfect, so the blue lines on this map can be used to infer only approximate flow paths. The base map is a partly transparent 1:24,000-scale USGS digital topographic map draped over the 1983 10-m digital elevation model (DEM).
This map is similar to the map above but shows a thermal map over the Episode 61g lava flow. Cooler colors (blue and green) show cooled, inactive portions of the flow surface. Hot colors (red and orange) show areas of active surface breakouts. In some places, the trace of the subsurface lava tube can be seen due to the slightly higher temperatures on the surface (for instance, the tube is visible just upslope of the Kamokuna ocean entry). Areas of the Episode 61g flow not covered by the thermal map are shown as dark gray.
The thermal map was constructed by stitching many overlapping oblique thermal images collected by a handheld thermal camera during a helicopter overflight of the flow field.
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