Multimedia Gallery

KPcam webcam on the flank of Mauna Loa looks south towards the summit of Kīlauea to monitor the gas plume from the active lava lake. This time-lapse video shows a typical day for the summit plume. Clear views in the night and morning show the low, ground-hugging plume carried to the southwest by the tradewinds. The plume is blocked from view by afternoon rain clouds. In

This video shows the inlet along the western margin of the lava lake in Halema‘uma‘u Crater, at the summit of Kīlauea. The lava stream was moving slowly but steadily, and was emerging beneath a portion of crust attached to the lake margin. The video is shown at 10x speed.
 

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor is located aboard NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites. The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) sensor is aboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) satellite. Together these sensors provide us with over two decades of crucial data for studying changes that have occurred on the

The Bay of Fundy in Canada has a unique geography funneling the Atlantic Ocean into some of the world's highest tides. At some points the water level can rise and fall over forty feet. The water's edge at Minas Basin shown in these Landsat 8 images changes dramatically depending on the day and time. Because Landsat 8 passes over quickly, the imagery cannot reveal the

The U.S. Geological Survey is the science research agency for the U.S. Department of the Interior. We conduct research on the natural hazards that threaten lives and livelihoods around the country. We also monitor the water, energy, minerals and other natural resources we rely on; the health of our ecosystems and environment; and the impacts of climate and land-use change

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 winter 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 of

This is an animation showing the changing conditions of USGS streamgages from January 1, 2021 to March 31, 2021. The river conditions shown range from the driest condition seen at a gage (red open circles) to the wettest (blue closed circles). A purple outer ring around a gage indicates it is flooding.

In January, the Pacific Northwest (particularly, western Oregon

There are thousands of volcanic features distributed throughout the southwest United States, which are grouped together in volcanic fields. The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory monitors these volcanoes using a combination of techniques. While YVO hasn’t seen anything to suggest magma is on the move, the area is stretched and pulled apart to produce numerous tectonic

With existing USGS tools you can search for scenes, view thumbnail browse images of scenes, and download scene-based data, all derived from the USGS archive of scene-based products. Now that Landsat scene data has been unpacked and stored in the cloud, LandsatLook 2.0 can access that data and present it to users in ways that were not previously possible. Thanks to the

A mudslide near the 2020 Dolan Fire's ignition point chopped through a chunk of California's scenic State Highway 1 in late January. 

The Dolan Fire began near Big Sur on August 18th, 2020. It scarred nearly 125,000 acres before being fully contained in December. 

The damage is clear in false color Landsat 8 imagery from August and October. The scar is still

The lava lake remains active in Halema‘uma‘u Crater, at the summit of Kīlauea. This video shows the inlet where lava from the western fissure is supplied to the lake. The motion of the lava stream is sluggish, and this video is shown at 20x speed.
 

Title: A Jaguar's Field of Dreams - If you build it, they will come (& other lessons from the U.S. - Mexico border) By: Laura M. Norman USGS, Western Geographic Science Center * Case study: the very lonely Jaguar * Madrean Archipelago Ecoregion, a biodiversity hotspot of the planet * Restoration ecohydrology and rewilding * Learn about the ecosystem services of rock

Throughout most of human existence, we haven't known much about how volcanoes work. Because of their immense power, they have terrified and fascinated us, and remain places of great spiritual importance for many people. The lack of knowledge about volcanoes has sometimes resulted in tragic and deadly disasters. But with the emergence of the science of volcanology and as

The Earth As Art project began in the early 2000s, and its original intent remains the same: to produce images that do not look like satellite images at first glance. Earth As Art shows not only what satellites capture in the visible wavelengths of light you and I can see, but also what’s hiding in the invisible wavelengths that Landsat sensors can detect in the infrared

The Earth As Art project began in the early 2000s, and its original intent remains the same: to produce images that do not look like satellite images at first glance. Earth As Art shows not only what satellites capture in the visible wavelengths of light you and I can see, but also what’s hiding in the invisible wavelengths that Landsat sensors can detect in the infrared

This thermal video shows the lava lake in Halema‘uma‘u, at the summit of Kīlauea. Lava is supplied from the western fissure, in the upper left portion of the video. Small vent openings atop the western fissure exhibit rhythmic gas puffing. The video is shown at 5x speed. 
 

Warmer, drier and longer fire seasons in the Northwest have led to larger and more frequent wildfires. These changes in fire activity, combined with warmer and drier post-fire conditions, have in turn led to growing concern that in some areas of the Northwest, particularly in forests and shrublands east of the Cascade Range, existing plant communities may face difficulty

How did the May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens change peoples’ lives? Carolyn Driedger talks about events that led up to the 1980 eruption and influenced scientists’ response to it, as well as what happened on May 18, and how the eruption changed people's lives and professions. This talk was presented for the Sno-Isle Libraries’ 2021 Whidbey Reads program.
 

This time-lapse sequence shows the growth of the lava lake in Halema‘uma‘u, at the summit of Kīlauea. The sequence starts on December 28, about a week after the start of the eruption and ends on March 10, 2021. The lake rises rapidly at first but then eventually slows down as the eruption rate gradually declines. The S1cam webcam time-lapse sequence includes approximately

This timelapse sequence shows several hours of activity in the lava lake in Halema‘uma‘u, at the summit of Kīlauea. Between March 5-7 a small lava pond developed near the vent. At approximately 1 pm on March 7, the levee of the pond collapsed, allowing the pond lava to drain into the main lake. Minor changes in the geometry of the western fissure, like this, happen

A routine helicopter overflight of the East Rift Zone of Kīlauea on March 4, 2021, allowed HVO geologists to conduct an updated visual and thermal survey. This video is shown at 5x speed and follows the new coastline created during the 2018 eruption in the Kapoho area. Lava along the shoreline continues to slowly erode, with small beaches forming in embayment's. 
 

Visual photographs taken during helicopter overflights of Halema‘uma‘u Crater are used to create 3D models of the crater. This technique is called structure-from-motion photogrammetry and uses the multiple perspectives captured in dozens of photos to reconstruct the crater shape. HVO scientists use these models to help calculate erupted volume, eruption rate, and measure

A routine helicopter overflight of Kīlauea's East Rift Zone allowed Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologists to conduct an updated visual and thermal survey. This video is shown at 2x speed and circles Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, the vent region for the East Rift Zone eruption between 1983 and 2018. No major changes were observed in Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. The bottom of the crater was more shallow