Time-lapse thermal image movie of Halemaumau Overlook Vent. March 2-9, 2017. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO

Time-lapse movie of Halemaumau Overlook Vent. March 2-9, 2017. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO

Time-lapse movie of Halemaʻumaʻu Overlook Vent from Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. March 2-9, 2017. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO

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

Time-lapse movie of KÄ«lauea Caldera from Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. March 2-9, 2017. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO

Time-lapse movie of Halemaumau Crater looking Southwest. March 2-9, 2017. Images courtesy of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

Kīlauea continues to erupt at its summit and East Rift Zone. This past week, the summit lava lake level varied between about 13 and 34 m (43-112 ft) below the vent rim. The 61g flow was still active, with lava entering the ocean near Kamokuna and surface breakouts downslope of Puʻu ʻŌʻō on the pali and the coastal plain. The 61g flows do not pose an immediate threat to nearby communities.

Mauna Loa is not erupting. During the past week, small-magnitude earthquakes continued to occur beneath the volcano, primarily beneath the east flank and upper Southwest Rift Zone. GPS measurements continue to show deformation related to inflation of a magma reservoir beneath the summit and upper Southwest Rift Zone. No significant change in the summit fumarole temperature or gas output was noted this past week.

Five earthquakes were reported felt in Hawaii in the past week. On Sunday, March 5, four earthquakes were felt in the span of 11 minutes between 6:06 and 6:17 a.m. HST. These earthquakes, ranging in magnitude from 3.8 to 3.1 occurred in KÄ«lauea’s Upper East Rift Zone between 5.8 km (3.6 mi) and 4.1 km (2.6 mi) southeast of the KÄ«lauea summit at depths of 2.7 km (1.7 mi) to 2.1 km (1.3 mi). On Thursday, March 9 at 3:03 a.m. HST a magnitude 4.2 earthquake occurred 64.8 km (40.2 mi) northeast of Kaunakakai, Moloka`i at a depth of 17.0 km (10.6 mi).

Please visit the HVO website (http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov) for past Volcano Watch articles, KÄ«lauea daily eruption updates and other volcano status reports, current volcano photos, recent earthquakes, and more; call (808) 967-8862 for a KÄ«lauea summary update; email questions to askHVO@usgs.gov.

Time-lapse movie of Pu’u ‘O’o Crater. March 2-9, 2017. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO

Time-lapse image movie from a research camera positioned on Holei Pali, looking east towards Lava Flow 61G and Kalapana. March 2-9, 2017. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO

This satellite image was captured on Wednesday, March 8, by the NASA/USGS Landsat 8 satellite. 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.
The image shows that breakouts continue in several areas on the flow field. The largest breakout is about 2 km (1.2 miles) southeast of the vent. Smaller breakouts are present above and on the pali. Near the base of the pali, on the coastal plain, a small breakout is active. A thermal anomaly is also present at the Kamokuna ocean entry.