Volcano Watch: Kilauea activity update for February 18, 2016


Time-lapse movie of Halemaumau Overlook Vent. February 11-18, 2016. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO


Time-lapse thermal image movie of Halemaumau Overlook Vent. February 11-18, 2016. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO


Time-lapse movie of Halemaʻumaʻu Overlook Vent from Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. February 11-18, 2016. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO


Time-lapse movie of Halemaumau Crater looking Southwest. February 11-18, 2016. Images courtesy of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park


Time-lapse movie of KÄ«lauea Caldera from Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. February 11-18, 2016. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO

(Activity updates are written by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.)

Kīlauea continues to erupt at its summit and East Rift Zone. During the past week, the summit lava lake level varied between about 29 and 40 m (95–131 ft) below the vent rim within Halema‘uma‘u Crater. On the East Rift Zone, scattered lava flow activity remains within about 6 km (4 mi) of Puʻu ʻŌʻō and is not currently threatening nearby communities.

Mauna Loa is not erupting. Seismicity remains elevated above long-term background levels, with earthquakes continuing to occur mostly beneath the volcano’s upper Southwest Rift Zone and southern caldera region at depths of less than 5 km (3 mi). Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements show continued deformation related to inflation of a magma reservoir beneath the summit and upper Southwest Rift Zone of Mauna Loa, with inflation recently occurring mainly in the southwestern part of the magma storage complex.

Two earthquakes were reported felt on the Island of Hawai‘i in the past week. On Friday, February 12, at 9:23 a.m., HST, a magnitude-4.1 earthquake occurred 7.7 km (4.8 mi) west of Kalapana at a depth of 8.3 km (5.1 mi). On Sunday, February 14, at 3:42 a.m., HST, a magnitude-2.7 earthquake occurred 12.4 km (7.7 mi) west of Kailua-Kona at a depth of 39.5 km (24.5 mi).


Time-lapse movie from images gathered from a temporary thermal camera looking into Pu’u ‘O’o Crater. The temperature scale is in degrees Celsius up to a maximum of 500 Celsius (932 Fahrenheit) for this camera model, and scales based on the maximum and minimum temperatures within the frame. Thick fume, image pixel size and other factors often result in image temperatures being lower than actual surface temperatures. February 11-18, 2016. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO


Time-lapse multi-image movie of Pu’u ‘O’o Crater. February 11-18, 2016. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO


Time-lapse movie of Pu’u ‘O’o Crater North Flank from the North Rim. February 11-18, 2016. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea’s active East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the flow field on January 19 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow field as mapped on February 12 is shown in red. The yellow lines show the active lava tube system. Puʻu ʻŌʻō lava flows erupted prior to June 27, 2014, are shown in gray. Puʻu ʻŌʻō is at lower left. The base map is a partly transparent 1:24,000-scale USGS digital topographic map draped over a 1983 10-m digital elevation model (DEM).

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea’s active East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the flow field on January 19 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow field as mapped on February 12 is shown in red. The yellow lines show the active lava tube system. Puʻu ʻŌʻō lava flows erupted prior to June 27, 2014, are shown in gray. Puʻu ʻŌʻō is at lower left.
The base map is a partly transparent 1:24,000-scale USGS digital topographic map draped over a 1983 10-m digital elevation model (DEM).

This map overlays a georeferenced thermal image mosaic onto a map of the flow field near Puʻu ʻŌʻō to show the distribution of active and recently active breakouts. The thermal images were collected during a helicopter overflight on February 12. The June 27th flow field as mapped on January 19 is outlined in green for comparison. The yellow lines show the active lava tube system, as currently mapped. Puʻu ʻŌʻō is at lower left.

This map overlays a georeferenced thermal image mosaic onto a map of the flow field near Puʻu ʻŌʻō to show the distribution of active and recently active breakouts. The thermal images were collected during a helicopter overflight on February 12. The June 27th flow field as mapped on January 19 is outlined in green for comparison. The yellow lines show the active lava tube system, as currently mapped. Puʻu ʻŌʻō is at lower left.

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