Volcano Watch: Kilauea activity update for Thursday, November 17, 2011

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Time-lapse movie of Pu‘u ‘O‘o Crater.

This photograph, looking east, shows a large skylight on the lava tube that is supplying lava to surface flows north of Royal Gardens subdivision. The tube trace, which heads southeast, is marked by the line of fume sources in the upper right portion of the image. The surface flows, out of view in this image, were 1.1 km (0.7 miles) north of the uppermost street in Royal Gardens Thursday (Nov 10). Photo courtesy of USGS/HVO.

This photograph, looking east, shows a large skylight on the lava tube that is supplying lava to surface flows north of Royal Gardens subdivision. The tube trace, which heads southeast, is marked by the line of fume sources in the upper right portion of the image. The surface flows, out of view in this image, were 1.1 km (0.7 miles) north of the uppermost street in Royal Gardens Thursday (Nov 10). Photo courtesy of USGS/HVO.

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

A close-up view of the skylight. The flowing lava stream in the tube was easily visible. Photo courtesy of USGS/HVO.

A close-up view of the skylight. The flowing lava stream in the tube was easily visible. Photo courtesy of USGS/HVO.

A lava lake was present within the Halemaumau Overlook vent over the past week, resulting in night-time glow that was visible from the Jaggar Museum overlook. The lake, which is about 100 m (330 ft) below the floor of Halemaumau and visible by Webcam, rose and fell slightly during the week in response to back-to-back deflation-inflation cycles.

Eruptive activity on Kilauea’s east rift zone was restricted to surface flows about 4.1 km (2.5 miles) east-southeast of Pu‘u ‘O‘o. These flows travel through a lava tube that is fed by the September 21 fissure on the upper east flank of the Pu‘u ‘O‘o cone.

Three earthquakes beneath Hawaii Island were reported felt this past week. A magnitude-3.3 earthquake occurred on at 9:03 p.m., HST, on Wednesday, November 9, 2011, and was located 13 km (8 mi) south of Mauna Loa summit at a depth of 13 km (8 mi). A magnitude-3.0 earthquake occurred at 2:16 a.m. on Sunday, November 13, and was located 12 km (8 mi) east of Pahala at a depth of 38 km (24 mi). A magnitude-2.6 earthquake occurred at 00:27 a.m. on Wednesday, November 16, and was located 11 km (7 mi) northeast of Pa`auilo at a depth of 5 km (3 mi).

Visit the HVO Web site (http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov) for detailed Kilauea and Mauna Loa activity updates, recent volcano photos, recent earthquakes, and more; call (808) 967-8862 for a Kilauea summary; email questions to askHVO@usgs.gov.

Volcano Watch is a weekly article and activity update written by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

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Time-lapse movie of Halemaumau overlook vent.

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