Time-lapse movie of Halemaumau Crater from the south rim. September 24-October 1, 2015. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO

Time-lapse movie of Halemaumau Overlook Vent. September 24-October 1, 2015. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO

Time-lapse movie of Halemaʻumaʻu Overlook Vent from Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. September 24-October 1, 2015. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO

Time-lapse thermal image movie of Halemaumau Overlook Vent. September 24-October 1, 2015. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO

Time-lapse movie of Halemaumau Overlook Vent from the West Rim of Halemaumau Crater. September 24-October 1, 2015. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO

Time-lapse movie of Halemaumau Crater looking Southwest. September 24-October 1, 2015. Images courtesy of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

Time-lapse movie of KÄ«lauea Caldera from Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. September 24-October 1, 2015. 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 with no significant changes this past week. The summit lava lake level varied between about 54 and 63 m (177–207 ft) below the vent rim within Halema‘uma‘u Crater. On the East Rift Zone, scattered lava flow activity remained within 7 km (4.3 mi) of Puʻu ʻŌʻō.

Mauna Loa is not erupting. During the past week, earthquake rates continued to be elevated, though at a lower weekly rate than previously recorded. Deformation data continued to indicate slight inflation of magma reservoirs within the volcano.

One earthquake was reported felt on the Island of Hawai‘i this past week. On Friday, September 25, 2015, at 12:27 a.m., HST, a magnitude-3.4 earthquake occurred 14.8 km (9.2 mi) west of Kalapana at depth of 7.3 km (4.6 mi).

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

The June 27th lava flow remains active with scattered breakouts northeast of Puʻu ʻŌʻō. The farthest active breakout today was about 6.5 km (4 miles) from Puʻu ʻŌʻō. This photograph shows activity along the northern flow boundary, where breakouts continue to burn vegetation. Photo taken Monday, September 28, 2015 courtesy of USGS/HVO

This view looks west towards Puʻu ʻŌʻō, which can be seen in the upper left. The most distant active breakouts were located near the center of the photograph, at a spot roughly 6.5 km (4 miles) from Puʻu ʻŌʻō. Photo taken Monday, September 28, 2015 courtesy of USGS/HVO

HVO geologists hike through thick fume and fog to reach the lava pond in the western portion of Puʻu ʻŌʻō crater. Photo taken Monday, September 28, 2015 courtesy of USGS/HVO

A lava pond has been active in the western portion of Puʻu ʻŌʻō crater for several months. Photo taken Monday, September 28, 2015 courtesy of USGS/HVO

This wide view shows the lava lake active within the Overlook crater, which is set within the larger Halemaʻumaʻu Crater. There have been no major changes in the lake in recent weeks. Monday morning the lava lake was roughly 60 meters (200 feet) below the rim of the Overlook crater. The dark region surrounding the Overlook crater is lava that spilled out onto the floor of Halemaʻumaʻu Crater in April and May of this year, when the lake level was much higher. Photo taken Monday, September 28, 2015 courtesy of USGS/HVO

A closer look at the lava lake in the Overlook crater. Photo taken Monday, September 28, 2015 courtesy of USGS/HVO

A lava sample collection from the perspective of an HVO geologist. Video shot Monday, September 28, 2015 courtesy of USGS/HVO

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. September 24-October 1, 2015. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO

Time-lapse movie of Pu’u ‘O’o Crater North Flank from the North Rim. September 24-October 1, 2015. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO

This small-scale map shows Kīlauea’s active East Rift Zone lava flow in relation to the eastern part of the Island of Hawaiʻi. The area of the flow on September 11 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of September 30 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. The black box shows the extent of the accompanying large scale map.
The blue lines show steepest-descent paths calculated from a 1983 digital elevation model (DEM; for calculation details, see http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2007/1264/). Steepest-descent path analysis is based on the assumption that the DEM perfectly represents the earth’s surface. DEMs, however, are not perfect, so the blue lines on this map can be used to infer only approximate flow paths. The base map is a partly transparent regional land cover map from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Coastal Management draped over the 1983 DEM. The bathymetry is also from NOAA.
Because the flow field is changing very little at the moment, mapping of the lava flow is being conducted relatively infrequently. We will return to more frequent mapping if warranted by an increase in activity.

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea’s active East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the flow on September 11 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of September 30 (based on satellite imagery) 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.
The base map is a partly transparent 1:24,000-scale USGS digital topographic map draped over a 10-m digital elevation model (DEM).