USGS: “An HVO geologist conducts maintenance on the S1cam web camera located along the southern rim of Halema‘uma‘u, at the summit of Kīlauea. This webcam has been recording images of the recent eruption and lava lake in Halema‘uma‘u from an area within Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park that remains closed to the public due to safety reasons. Photo taken on July 23, 2021, at 11:34 a.m. HST.” USGS photo by J. M. Chang.

(BIVN) – Kīlauea is not erupting, and remains at a YELLOW / ADVISORY alert level.

In its weekly update, the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reported that no surface activity has been observed at the summit since the most recent eruption paused in May 2021. Scientists noted that seismicity has deceased in the past week, while summit inflation has continued over the past several months.

At the same time, the USGS says “seismicity persisted along the upper East Rift Zone at slightly elevated levels over the past week. Together with the geodetic monitoring the observations suggest that the summit and upper East Rift Zone continue to be replenished with magma. By contrast, the Lower East Rift Zone was mostly quiet.”

The USGS HVO had this update, following recent field visit to the summit:

The latest field visit to Halema‘uma‘u and Kīlauea caldera on July 22 confirmed continued fumarole degassing and no changes to the crater floor. SO2 emission rates continue to be low, consistent with a return to non-eruptive period from late 2018 to late 2020 (30-35 t/d) and are well below emission rates from mid-February to mid-April (~800 t/d). Summit tiltmeters recorded continued gradual inflation but no deflation-inflation events occurred in the past week. Continued inflation was also recorded by summit GPS instruments, a pattern that has persisted for several months. Seismicity decreased in the past week.

The USGS continues to say that is possible that the Halema‘uma‘u vent could resume eruption, or “that Kīlauea is entering a longer period of quiescence prior to the next eruption.”

Sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission rates are close to the low levels associated with the non-eruptive period from late 2018 to late 2020. It is possible that the Halema‘uma‘u vent could resume eruption or that Kīlauea is entering a longer period of quiescence prior to the next eruption.