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Kilauea Earthquake Counts Increase As Volcanic Unrest Continues
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STORY SUMMARY

HAWAIʻI VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK - The unrest associated with the magma intrusion that began in early October, southwest of Kīlauea's summit, continues.

This story appears in the above BIVN Update. The video will jump to the associated story when played. (A synthesized voice was utilized in the narration for this story)

(BIVN) – After a few days of relative quiet, the unrest at Kīlauea volcano began to stir once again recently, with an increase in the number of earthquakes being recorded by the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

Scientist have not yet published their daily Kīlauea update for Monday, however the USGS HVO website shows an increase in seismic activity, with a jump on Sunday and continuing Monday.

graphs courtesy USGS HVO website

This is typical of the “wax and wane” behavior that Kīlauea has exhibited the past few months. Scientists have been repeating that changes in the level of unrest are associated to the input of magma into the area, and “eruptive activity could occur in the near future with little or no warning.”

The volcano alert level is currently at ADVISORY.

UPDATE – (9 a.m.) – From the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory on November 20th at 8:55 a.m. HST.

Summit Observations:  A new episode of earthquake activity began this morning Monday, November 20th, south of Halema’uma’u crater, seismicity continues at moderate rates. Twenty five earthquakes were observed in the southern part of the caldera in the past 24 hours.

The Uēkahuna summit tiltmeter, located northwest of the caldera had a modest increase in tilt in the past 24 hours. The Sand Hill tiltmeter, located southwest of the caldera, had moderate observable deformation in the last 24 hours. However, overall, the summit of Kīlauea remains at a high level of inflation, above the level reached prior to the most recent eruption in September 2023.

Sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission rates remain low. Field observations found SO2 gas emmision of 100 tonnes per day on November 17th. This is the same as an observation in October 2023.

There is currently no sign of an imminent eruption, but eruptive activity is possible in the coming weeks or months. Increased inflation and earthquake activity (heightened unrest) are expected to precede an eruption. The onsets of previous summit eruptions have been marked by strong swarms of earthquakes caused by the emplacement of a dike 1-2 hours before eruptions.