November 17, 2016 Wild Ocean Lava from Mick Kalber on Vimeo.

Video courtesy of Paradise Helicopters

The level of the lava lake at the summit of Kīlauea has been high recently, providing good views of spattering from the Jaggar Museum visitor overlook in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. This photo shows activity as viewed from the rim of Halemaʻumaʻu Crater (closed to the public since 2008 due to volcanic hazards). Spattering is common, and on Sunday (Nov. 13), was focused along the southeast margin of the lake, which is partially obscured by the crater wall. Photo taken Sunday, November 13, 2016 courtesy of USGS/HVO

Foundering of the lava lake crust is common near the lake’s margins. The triangular-shaped slab of crust (left of photo’s center) was sinking back into the lake as more fluid lava upwelled around it. Photo taken Sunday, November 13, 2016 courtesy of USGS/HVO

Time-lapse thermal image movie of Halemaumau Overlook Vent. November 17, 2016. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO

Time-lapse movie of Halemaumau Overlook Vent. November 10-17, 2016. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO

Time-lapse movie of Halemaʻumaʻu Overlook Vent from Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. November 10-17, 2016. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO

Time-lapse movie of Halemaumau Crater looking Southwest. November 10-17, 2016. Images courtesy of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

Time-lapse movie of KÄ«lauea Caldera from Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. November 10-17, 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. This past week, the summit lava lake level varied between about 9 and 20 m (30–66 ft) below the vent rim. The 61g lava flow continued to enter the ocean near Kamokuna, and does not pose an immediate threat to nearby communities.

Mauna Loa is not erupting. During the past week, earthquakes occurred primarily at the summit and upper Southwest Rift Zone at depths less than 5 km (3 mi). Additional small earthquakes occurred in the Kaʻōiki area of the east flank between Kīlauea and Mauna Loa mostly in the 5–13 km (3–8 mi) depth range. Deformation related to inflation of a magma reservoir beneath the summit and upper Southwest Rift Zone continues, with inflation occurring mainly in the southwestern part of the magma storage complex.

One earthquake was reported felt on the Island of Hawaiʻi this past week. On Tuesday November 15, 2016, at 10:23 p.m., HST, a magnitude-3.3 earthquake occurred 10.1 km (6.3 mi) southeast of Waikoloa at a depth of 35 km.

Please visit the HVO website (http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov) for past Volcano Watch articles, KÄ«lauea daily eruption updates, Mauna Loa weekly updates, volcano photos, recent earthquakes info, and more; call for summary updates at 808-967-8862 (KÄ«lauea) or 808-967-8866 (Mauna Loa); email questions to askHVO@usgs.gov.

Time-lapse image movie from a research camera positioned on Holei Pali, looking east towards Lava Flow 61G and Kalapana. November 10-17, 2016. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO

This satellite image was captured on Sunday, November 13, by the Advanced Land Imager instrument onboard NASA’s Earth Observing 1 satellite. The image is provided courtesy of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Although this is a false-color image, the color map has been chosen to mimic what the human eye would expect to see. Bright red pixels depict areas of very high temperatures and show active lava. White areas are clouds.
In recent weeks there has been little surface activity on the flow field, with lava traveling almost exclusively through the subsurface lava tube from the vent to the Kamokuna ocean entry. Last week a breakout appeared at the base of the pali and was active for several days, but was inactive by this past weekend. This image shows a warm area in the area of last week’s breakout, and no signs of other active breakouts on the surface. Bright thermal anomalies are present in PuÊ»u ʻŌʻō Crater, where a small lava pond is active, as well as at the ocean entry, where streams of lava pour into the ocean.