USGS Volcano Hazards Program Volcano Update
HVO update page and observatory web site
Activity Summary for past 24 hours: A DI event started this morning. At the summit, a circulating, bubbling, spattering, rising, and falling lava pond surface was visible in a hole in the vent cavity floor deep beneath Halema`uma`u Crater floor. Sulfur dioxide emission rates from the Halema`uma`u and east rift zone vents remain elevated. Lava flows are active on the coastal plain; lava flows through tubes to the coast and is entering the ocean at two locations west of Kalapana.
Past 24 hours at Kilauea summit: Overnight, the lava pond, visible in a hole in the floor of a pit in the Halema`uma`u Crater floor, continued to circulate, bubble, and spatter; several times, the pond level rose to cover the floor, then drained back into the hole. At about 4 am this morning, part of the pit floor fell in enlarging the hole and revealing more of the lava pond surface. Glow is visible from the Jaggar Museum Overlook. This morning, the slightly wispy, off-white plume moves to the southwest. The most recent sulfur dioxide emission rate measurement was 800 tonnes/day on November 20, still elevated above the 2003-2007 average of 140 tonnes/day. Very small amounts of mostly ash-sized tephra continued to drop out of the plume near the vent.
The summit tiltmeter network recorded the start of DI deflation at about 2:40 am this morning. The GPS network, which is less sensitive than the tiltmeter network, recorded contraction, starting at the beginning of November, extension after November 12th, and is now again recording contraction.
Seismic tremor levels remained at low values with a brief decrease during each rise in lava level deep in the Halema`uma`u Overlook vent pit. The number of RB2S2BL earthquakes remained below background levels. Seven earthquakes were strong enough to be located - three beneath the area just north of the summit caldera, three beneath an area west of the lower southwest rift zone, and one on south flank faults.
Past 24 hours at the middle east rift zone vents and flow field: Magma continued to degas through Pu`u `O`o crater before erupting from the TEB vent, located 2 km to the east. The most recent sulfur dioxide emission rate measurement was 1,300 tonnes/day on November 20, below the 2003-2007 average of 1,700 tonnes/day.
The tiltmeter on the north flank of Pu`u `O`o recorded DI deflation starting at 4 am this morning. The GPS network, which is less sensitive than the tiltmeter network, recorded continued slow contraction of the cone, amounting to almost 3 cm of contraction over the past 3 months. Seismic tremor levels at Pu`u `O`o and the TEB vent were at low values.
Lava flows through two tube branches to the coast, across State- and privately-owned land, and was entering the ocean at three general locations at Waikupanaha, west Waikupanaha 700 m (2,300 ft) to the west, and areas in-between. Last night, UHH geologists and CD officials reported scattered active surface flows on the coastal plain, active ocean entries in three broad locations, and small surface flows active at the top and the base of the pali. GOES-WEST imagery showed thermal anomalies on the coastal plain suggesting continuing surface flow activity through dawn.
Past 24 hours at Kilauea summit: Overnight, the lava pond, visible in a hole in the floor of a pit in the Halema`uma`u Crater floor, continued to circulate, bubble, and spatter; several times, the pond level rose to cover the floor, then drained back into the hole. At about 4 am this morning, part of the pit floor fell in enlarging the hole and revealing more of the lava pond surface. Glow is visible from the Jaggar Museum Overlook. This morning, the slightly wispy, off-white plume moves to the southwest. The most recent sulfur dioxide emission rate measurement was 800 tonnes/day on November 20, still elevated above the 2003-2007 average of 140 tonnes/day. Very small amounts of mostly ash-sized tephra continued to drop out of the plume near the vent.
The summit tiltmeter network recorded the start of DI deflation at about 2:40 am this morning. The GPS network, which is less sensitive than the tiltmeter network, recorded contraction, starting at the beginning of November, extension after November 12th, and is now again recording contraction.
Seismic tremor levels remained at low values with a brief decrease during each rise in lava level deep in the Halema`uma`u Overlook vent pit. The number of RB2S2BL earthquakes remained below background levels. Seven earthquakes were strong enough to be located - three beneath the area just north of the summit caldera, three beneath an area west of the lower southwest rift zone, and one on south flank faults.
Past 24 hours at the middle east rift zone vents and flow field: Magma continued to degas through Pu`u `O`o crater before erupting from the TEB vent, located 2 km to the east. The most recent sulfur dioxide emission rate measurement was 1,300 tonnes/day on November 20, below the 2003-2007 average of 1,700 tonnes/day.
The tiltmeter on the north flank of Pu`u `O`o recorded DI deflation starting at 4 am this morning. The GPS network, which is less sensitive than the tiltmeter network, recorded continued slow contraction of the cone, amounting to almost 3 cm of contraction over the past 3 months. Seismic tremor levels at Pu`u `O`o and the TEB vent were at low values.
Lava flows through two tube branches to the coast, across State- and privately-owned land, and was entering the ocean at three general locations at Waikupanaha, west Waikupanaha 700 m (2,300 ft) to the west, and areas in-between. Last night, UHH geologists and CD officials reported scattered active surface flows on the coastal plain, active ocean entries in three broad locations, and small surface flows active at the top and the base of the pali. GOES-WEST imagery showed thermal anomalies on the coastal plain suggesting continuing surface flow activity through dawn.
Update in Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) format
