Multimedia Gallery

Busting Myths About One of the Largest Volcanic Systems in the World - The Top 10 Misconceptions about Yellowstone Volcanism

By Michael Poland, USGS Scientist-in-charge, Yellowstone Volcano Observatory

• Contrary to popular belief, Yellowstone is not "overdue" for eruption. Volcanoes don't work that way.
• Yellowstone experiences thousands of

The USGS Storm Event dashboard allows users to interact with and visualize high-water mark and storm sensor data points, and ​estimated flood extents from the January and March 2018 Nor’easter storm events. Users can also view the USGS 100-year Stillwater analysis​and compare these flood extents to the current FEMA national flood hazard layers. The dashboard is comprised

The newly launched Landsat 9 experienced a once-in-a-mission lifetime event where its orbit was directly below Landsat 8 for an “underfly.” For several days in the middle of November, the pair of Earth-observing satellites flew together, collecting data at the same time for the same sites and requiring simultaneous downlinking to global ground station antennas.

Lava continues to erupt from the west vent in Halema‘uma‘u, and supply the lava lake through a spillway in the spatter cone. On November 12, a small overflow of the perched lava lake levee was visible from the western crater rim. Overflows are an important process for building up perched levees, as they help add height and stability. The height of the levee in this video

Landslide initiation processes in subarctic Alaska are complicated by the prevalence of ice-rich permafrost. Permafrost and permafrost thaw influence landslide type, frequency, and continued ground surface deformation, resulting in positive feedbacks between permafrost thaw and landsliding. Thaw-induced landslides in interior Alaska and rain-induced landslides across the

Lava continues to erupt from the west vent in Halema‘uma‘u, and supply the lava lake through a spillway in the spatter cone. On November 9, a close-up view of the west vent shows spatter bursting and sloshing within the cone. Spatter was thrown about 6–9 m (20–30 ft) above the pond surface, occasionally depositing spatter onto the rim of the cone. 

Landsat 9 launched into space on September 27th, 2021. The "first light" images arrived on October 31st. On that day the satellite captured: algal blooms in Lake Erie, the glaciers of the Himalayas, bush fires in Australia's Eucalypt Woodlands, coastal communities on the Florida panhandle, and deserts, mountains and mesas across the Navajo Nation. Imagery from Landsat 9

Eruptive activity continues in Halema‘uma‘u, at the summit of Kīlauea. The west vent remains active with low fountaining in a slightly perched pond set within the cone. Lava pours through a short spillway into the lava lake. The base level of the pond fluctuates over the timespan of minutes. This video was taken when the base level was higher than it often is, causing the

The November 2021 YVO Yellowstone Volcano update comes to you from a very snowy Norris Geyser Basin with a story about Porkchop Geyser’s 1989 explosion.

Porkchop Geyser was named in the 1960s because it had a shape that looked a lot like a pork chop. In the 1970s to 1980s, it started having intermittent geyser eruptions, becoming more and more active. On September 5

Lava continues to erupt from the west vent in Halema‘uma‘u, and supply the lava lake through a spillway in the spatter cone. On September 29, small circulation currents (eddies) were seen near the spillway at the base of the cone. The fast-moving lava plucked crust from the base of the spillway and deposited it further downstream, where the lava was then recirculated back

It has been one month since the new eruption began in Halema'uma'u. Over the past year at Kīlauea summit there has been a water lake and two eruptions within Halema'uma'u crater.

This time-lapse video made from the F1cam thermal camera, shows the changes within Halema'uma'u over the past year, from October 28, 2020 at 4:00 p.m. to October 28, 2021 at 4:00 p.m. There

*Happy Halloween*
Welcome to the “I Am A..." series, a whiteboard animation video series highlighting USGS careers. The concept is to show "what society (or my mom) thinks I do" compared with "what I really do." One image captures a more whimsical representation of a "scientist" in a particular field and the second demonstrates a more accurate

Zombie Salmon and Ghost Moose - The Spooky Implications of Climate Change

By Laura Thompson & Abigail Lynch, USGS National Climate Adaptation Science Center

• The National Climate Adaptation Science Center works on research to help avoid some scary scenarios for fish and wildlife.
• Learn how warming weather and shorter winters

The granitic cliffs of Yosemite Valley produce frequent rockfalls, modifying the landscape but also posing risk to park visitors. Analyses of terrestrial lidar and historical structure-from-motion photogrammetry data provide relatively precise short-term (approximately 40 years) rates of rockfall and cliff retreat. Those same data can also be used to estimate long-term (

The volcanic activity of Kilauea continues on the island of Hawaii. The latest eruption began within Halema'uma'u Crater on September 29. The previous eruption just ended in May 2021. Before that, major lava flows covered the eastern tip of Hawaii's Big Island in 2018. This latest eruption included vigorous fountaining up to 50-60m high. Landsat 8 infrared imagery reveals

Eruptive activity continues in Halema‘uma‘u crater, at the summit of Kīlauea. The west vent remains active with low fountaining in a slightly perched pond set within the cone. Lava pours through a short spillway into the lava lake.

Morning views of the eruption within Halema‘uma‘u crater, at Kīlauea summit, on October 23, 2021. This view is from the south rim of the crater. Lava continues to erupt from a single vent on the western wall of the crater. Lava fountains within the cone and spills out of the cone opening, flowing east into the lake.

Morning views of the eruption within Halema‘uma‘u crater, at Kīlauea summit, on October 23, 2021. Variable west vent fountain heights are visible in this video, which is shown at 5 times speed. Sporadic foundering, when cooler lava crust on the surface sinks back into the liquid portion of the lava lake below, is also visible across the active west portion of the lava lake

This video was prepared for Douglas Beard's presentation at COP26, Communities on the Frontline. Jerilyn Kelly, from Quinhagak, AK shares video and photographs from her community and some of the climate related challenges her community faces. She describes how erosion and permafrost degradation impact her community and their housing.

Understanding of rockfall frequency-magnitude relationships is important for managing rockfall hazards, but characterizing these relationships is a challenging problem due to limited data, limited access, and the difficulty of accurately dating historic rockfalls. Developing frequency-magnitude relationships can be particularly difficult for natural rock slopes, which can

0:00 Introducing the NextGen Pages
0:31 Interactive Hydrograph
1:41 Selecting Different Water Data
2:21 Data Table
2:30 Interactive Map
3:01 Network Associations
3:20 All Available Data
3:40 Metadata
3:56 Cooperators
4:10 Classic Page
4:22 Menu Bar
4:40 Feedback
4:56 Closing

This short video shows users how

A morning overflight of Kīlauea summit on October 15, 2021, provided aerial views of the eruption within Halema‘uma‘u. Lava erupts from a single vent on the western wall of the crater. The vent has a spatter cone around it, with an opening to the east from which lava flows into the lava lake. 

Watch non audio described version.

A research team comprising staff from the Pacific Islands Climate Adaptation Science Center (PI-CASC), the University of Hawai'i and the County of Hawai'i Planning Department recently set out to quantify historic and contemporary rates of change