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Mauna Loa, the world's largest active volcano, has rumbled back to life in Hawaii over the past 13 months with more seismic activity than at any time since its last eruption, scientists say, while calling it too soon to predict another blast. The volcano, which last erupted in 1975 and 1984, has been rattled since March 2013 by earthquakes of the same type and in the same location as the temblors that preceded those explosions, said Wes Thelen, a seismologist for the US Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. "The earthquakes we are seeing at Mauna Loa lead us to believe...

<p>STANFORD, California (CNN) -- In an event known as a "silent earthquake," a 72-square-mile chunk of the south slope of Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano slipped 3.5 inches toward the sea several months ago, leading one scientist to warn of a possible disaster for Pacific Rim nations.</p>

The picture isn't that spectacular; the video (in Quicktime) is. When I saw this I knew it had to be a Geopic of the week (sorry I'm late). The movie is in real-time. Turn up the sound. If you're wondering what this is, it's a view down the throat of the Hale'maumau vent. I wonder if this will eventually rise and fill the crater floor, even if only briefly -- that would be a sight. http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/kilauea/update/archive/2009/Jun/HMMvent_03June2009web3.mov

I just thought this was a neat view of the volcanoes on the Big Island. Click for full-size. The Pu'u O'o crater is in the foreground; outflowing lava degasses through the crater then enters the tube system and flows toward the sea. The Halemaumau plume (the vent has gotten a little more active in the past few days) is in front of Mauna Loa. Mauna Kea is on the right.

Background: Several months ago, a vent opened explosively in Halemaumau, the crater inside the caldera of Kileaua volcano. Halemaumau used to be famous (notably due to a description from Mark Twain) as the location of a lava lake, fairly easily accessible by visitors. The lava lake disappeared in 1924 during a series of explosive phreatic eruptions (steam and hot rock). The lake has appeared briefly since then, such as in 1967. Famous photo of explosive eruption from Halemaumau The new vent has been producing a steady cloud of SO2 (occasionally irritating residents on Oahu) since it opened. There have been...

Scale is impossible to judge when there's nothing nearby with a size you can judge by: this lava fountain on the flow field of Kilauea is 12-15 meters high. Click for full-size. Click: Kilauea Eruption Images to access a Quicktime movie of this fountain.

A plume of ash towered from Kilauea Volcano's Halema`uma`u caldera on Monday, according to scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey. Lava erupted from the crater overnight in relatively small amounts. It is the first time lava erupted from Halema`uma`u Crater since 1982, according to USGS officials. Scientists candidly told KITV that this is new ground for them. The ash plume thousands of feet high, erupting from the Halema'uma'u caldera of Kilauea indicates a change of geophysical plumbing deep under the volcano which scientists said they do not understand quite yet. "Not quite sure. It could involve water, the rapid expansion...

The more things stay the same... the more they change, of course. The famous Halemaumau crater (formerly the site of an active lava lake) has had a couple of changes, and yesterday a new steam vent exploded violently, casting rocks about. Below is an image of the crater, half-size (click for full), with the new steam vent. The link below is to the images page, where you can see other pictures of what happened. In the first comment, the picture and link is from Stromboli Online, which recently visited Erta Ale in inhospitable Ethiopia, which hosts an active lava lake...

First, the pyramids of Renon, a small cluster of hoodoos in the Dolomite region of Italy. Second, an impressive shot of Kilauea lava. This one's close enough for marshmallows. Lava flows reached the sea again a few days ago -- the flow that reached the sea cut straight through the middle of the remaining uncovered "kipuka" of the Royal Gardens subdivision, made famous as the various previous flows devoured homes. I think there are two inhabited homes still there; I don't know how they fared with this most recent flow, but I haven't seen pictures of flaming homes on TV...

When last we visited Kilauea (I think), the Pu'u O'o crater was hosting an active lava lake, and I thought there was a possibility of an overflow or a below-rim outbreak. Neither happened. Instead, the lava lake drained smoothly and a fissure eruption commenced. This is where all the action is currently. If you want to see where it's located, click the Maps link at the header link. I realized that I hadn't checked for images of this for more than a month. So I did. Below is my favorite, reduced to half-size. Click on it for full-size.

Don't look back... there's a lava flow behind you. (Click for full size) What's been happening: the lava lake in the Pu'u O'o crater drained, and a new fissure eruption began in an area where there hadn't been active lava since 1992. The man in the picture is standing in front of a "perched pond" -- an flat area, sometimes with rubble rims, where the lava in the flow pools before flowing further downslope. According to the daily update, it appears that the activity from the fissures may be declining. Wild-guess prediction: we may be seeing the end stages of...

Early Morning Earthquake Swarm Beneath Kilauea's Upper East Rift Zone About 70 shallow earthquakes in 2 hours occurred beneath the upper east rift zone of Kilauea early this morning. The swarm began at 2:15 a.m. on Sunday, June 17 and is ongoing. The earthquakes are centered 1 km (1 mile) southwest of Mauna Ulu and are concentrated between 1.5 and 3 kilometers (1-2 miles) deep. As of 4:30 a.m., ten of the quakes had magnitudes greater than 3 and were felt by nearby residents. All data so far is consistent with the event being a shallow intrusion of magma. The...

New Hawaii Volcano Observatory Web page for the Kilauea eruption has time-lapse movies of gas pistoning, lava breakouts, coastal gas bubbles, and a slow bench collapse. The slow bench collapse shows why it's not smart to go beyond the safety lines; because sometimes benches collapse much faster than that. Kilauea Volcano: Time-Lapse Movies

VOLCANO, Hawaii - Visitors to one of the world's most active volcanoes are being kept hundreds of feet away from a 55-acre lava delta that authorities believe may soon collapse into the Pacific Ocean. Eruption-watchers from the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory on Monday reported lava continuing to flow into the ocean off the west side and tip of the expanding black delta, while small breakouts of lava from higher up the slopes of Kilauea Volcano were described as "resembling a string of holiday lights." Kilauea, star attraction of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, has been luring thousands of visitors...

OK, so I'm a bit lazy this week. Above the lava falls on the lava delta (the lava is flowing over the edge of a small cliff): The falls. Scale is hard to judge; the text says the cliff is 12-15 meters (40-50 feet) high. Who would like to stand near the falls to give the picture some scale?

Active lava pond in the East Pond Vent, Pu'u O'o, Kilauea, Hawaii: CHALLENGE: Find a good picture of a freshwater spring sand boil. This is where the water of a spring is emerging from a sandy bottom, and the sand "boils" where the water flow is strongest. Example: The white area is a sand boil in a Florida freshwater spring. What I need is a high-quality close-up example of this for a demonstration. (Not critical, but it would be helpful.)

Click here for updated storm photo galleries, computer simulations, NOAA website links and detailed information on the Kilauea flood as well as breaking information and event postponements... Recent Garden Island headlines... The Garden Island multi-media links...

Honolulu (AP) -- A dam burst on the island of Kauai on Tuesday, and seven people were missing, the Coast Guard said.

Sometimes we forget that Hawaii's Kilauea is in constant eruption. And the Web site may go for weeks without a new picture. But there have been some recent events, including a large bench collapse. Below are three recent picture highlights; go to the linked source for explanations. 18-20 November 2005 -- lava stream after tube breakout 30 November 2005 -- lava falls after bench collapse 2 December 2005 -- sea cliff lava vent

HAWAII VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK, Hawaii - About 44 acres of coastline collapsed into the ocean this week, setting loose a glowing stream of lava that shot out from the newly exposed cliffside 45 feet above the water. The plume, 6 feet in diameter, sent up a tower of steam as it hit the water and began forming a ramp of new land. The collapse of solidified lava shelf and sea cliff Monday was the largest since Kilauea Volcano began its current eruption in 1983. Jim Kauahikaua, scientist-in-charge of the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, said a collapse warning was...