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Volcano Watch: Kilauea activity update for December 12, 2013

This thermal image taken Friday (Dec 6) looks northeast from Puʻu ʻŌʻō, and shows how the subsurface lava tubes feeding the active breakouts on the Kahaualeʻa 2 flow are clearly visible as lines of slightly higher temperatures on the surface. At the bottom of the image, the lava tube coming from Puʻu ʻŌʻō forks, with the eastern branch supplying lava to the main area of active breakouts (5 km, or about 3 miles, northeast of Puʻu ʻŌʻō) and the western branch feeding a small area of breakouts about 2 km (1.2 miles) north of Puʻu ʻŌʻō. Photo courtesy of USGS/HVO

This thermal image taken Friday (Dec 6) looks northeast from Puʻu ʻŌʻō, and shows how the subsurface lava tubes feeding the active breakouts on the Kahaualeʻa 2 flow are clearly visible as lines of slightly higher temperatures on the surface. At the bottom of the image, the lava tube coming from Puʻu ʻŌʻō forks, with the eastern branch supplying lava to the main area of active breakouts (5 km, or about 3 miles, northeast of Puʻu ʻŌʻō) and the western branch feeding a small area of breakouts about 2 km (1.2 miles) north of Puʻu ʻŌʻō. Photo courtesy of USGS/HVO

Continuing the same trend of activity observed over the past few weeks, the active breakouts on the Kahaualeʻa 2 flow are still slowly advancing into the forest northeast of Puʻu ʻŌʻō, creating small vegetation fires. Photo courtesy of USGS/HVO

Continuing the same trend of activity observed over the past few weeks, the active breakouts on the Kahaualeʻa 2 flow are still slowly advancing into the forest northeast of Puʻu ʻŌʻō, creating small vegetation fires. Photo courtesy of USGS/HVO

A lava lake within the HalemaÊ»umaÊ»u Overlook vent produced nighttime glow that was visible via HVO’s Webcam during the past week. A prolonged deflation-inflation cycle (DI event) spanned much of the past week, and the lava-lake level fluctuated correspondingly.

On KÄ«lauea’s East Rift Zone, the KahaualeÊ»a 2 flow continues to advance slowly into the forest northeast of PuÊ»u ʻŌʻō. The active front of the flow is about 5.8 km (3.6 miles) northeast of PuÊ»u ʻŌʻō.

Two earthquakes in the past week were reported felt on the Island of Hawai‘i. On Saturday, December 7, 2013 HST, at 10:27 p.m. a magnitude-3.8 earthquake occurred 10 km (6 mi) southeast of Holualoa at a depth of 15 km (9 mi). On Monday, December 9, at 2:29 a.m., a magnitude-3.2 earthquake occurred 4 km (2 mi) southeast of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō at a depth of 8 km (5 mi).

Visit the HVO website (http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov) for past Volcano Awareness Month articles and current Kīlauea, Mauna Loa, and Hualālai activity updates, recent volcano photos, recent earthquakes, and more; call (808) 967-8862 for a Kīlauea summary; email questions to askHVO@usgs.gov.

Volcano Watch (http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanowatch/) is a weekly article and activity update written by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey`s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

Map showing the Kahaualeʻa 2 flow in relation to the eastern part of the Big Island as of December 6, 2013. The tip of the Kahaualeʻa 2 flow that reached 7.3 km (4.5 miles) from Puʻu ʻŌʻō several weeks ago is no longer active. Flows remain active, however, about 5 km (3 miles) northeast of Puʻu ʻŌʻō where they continue to spread into the forest. The area of the Kahaualeʻa 2 flow as of November 27 is shown in pink, while widening of the flow as of December 6 is shown in red. Older lava flows are distinguished by color: episodes 1–48b flows (1983–1986) are shown in gray; episodes 48c–49 flows (1986–1992) are pale yellow; episodes 50–55 flows (1992–2007) are tan; episodes 58–60 flows (2007–2011) are pale orange, and episode 61 flows (2011–2013) are reddish orange. The active lava tube is shown with a yellow line.

Map showing the Kahaualeʻa 2 flow in relation to the eastern part of the Big Island as of December 6, 2013. The tip of the Kahaualeʻa 2 flow that reached 7.3 km (4.5 miles) from Puʻu ʻŌʻō several weeks ago is no longer active. Flows remain active, however, about 5 km (3 miles) northeast of Puʻu ʻŌʻō where they continue to spread into the forest. The area of the Kahaualeʻa 2 flow as of November 27 is shown in pink, while widening of the flow as of December 6 is shown in red. Older lava flows are distinguished by color: episodes 1–48b flows (1983–1986) are shown in gray; episodes 48c–49 flows (1986–1992) are pale yellow; episodes 50–55 flows (1992–2007) are tan; episodes 58–60 flows (2007–2011) are pale orange, and episode 61 flows (2011–2013) are reddish orange. The active lava tube is shown with a yellow line.

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