USGS webcam image shows Halemaʻumaʻu at the summit of Kīlauea on Tuesday.

(BIVN) – Kīlauea is not erupting, and the USGS Volcano Alert Level remains at ADVISORY.

“The upper East Rift Zone seismic swarm that began on June 27 abated yesterday morning, though earthquake counts remain above background levels, similar to before the swarm,” reported the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory on Tuesday.

Closures on Kīlauea’s upper East Rift Zone within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park that were considered in advance of increasing unrest were not enacted.

“Longer-term, gradual inflation of the summit and upper rift zones has persisted since the end of the June 3, 2024 eruption,” the USGS HVO wrote on Tuesday morning. “Any substantial increases in seismicity and/or deformation could result in a new eruptive episode, but there are no signs of an imminent eruption at this time.”

From the USGS HVO daily update:

Summit and Upper Rift Zone Observations:  There were approximately 70 earthquakes detected beneath the upper East Rift Zone over the past 24 hours, mostly at depths of 1–3 km (0.6–1.8 mi). This daily count is similar to those recorded prior to the June 27 swarm. In the past day, summit tiltmeters began tracking inflationary ground deformation after a multi-day pause: the UWE instrument northwest of the summit and the SDH instrument southwest of the summit respectively recorded approximately 7 and 3 microradians of inflationary tilt over the past 24 hours. GPS instruments around the summit region continue to show longer-term, gradual inflation since the end of the June 3, 2024 eruption. The most recent measurement of the summit’s SO2 emission rate was approximately 75 tonnes per day on June 28, 2024.

USGS: “This map shows recent deformation at Kīlauea, over the timeframe of June 13 to June 29, 2024. Data was recorded by the Italian Space Agency’s (ASI) Cosmo-SkyMED satellite. Colored fringes denote areas of ground deformation, with more fringes indicating more deformation. Each color cycle represents 1.5 cm (0.6 in) of ground motion. The bullseye feature indicates inflation of the area southwest of Kaluapele over this time period. The northeast-southwest trending line-like feature reflects the intrusion (body of magma underground) that fed the June 3, 2024, eruption. Arrow in the upper left indicates satellite orbit direction (arrow) and look direction (bar).”

Middle and Lower Rift Zone Observations:  Rates of seismicity and ground deformation beneath the middle and lower East Rift Zone and lower Southwest Rift Zone remain low. Recent eruptive activity and ongoing unrest have been restricted to the summit and upper rift zone regions. Measurements from continuous gas monitoring stations downwind of Puʻuʻōʻō in the middle East Rift Zone—the site of 1983–2018 eruptive activity—remain below detection limits for SO2, indicating that SO2 emissions from Puʻuʻōʻō are negligible.

Analysis: Following the eruption on June 3, 2024, magma has been repressurizing the storage system beneath Halemaʻumaʻu and the south caldera region, activating earthquakes in the caldera south of Halemaʻumaʻu and in the upper East Rift Zone. At this time, it is not possible to say whether this activity will lead to an intrusion or eruption in the near future, or simply continue as seismic unrest at depth. Changes in the character and location of unrest can occur quickly, as can the potential for eruption, but there are no signs of an imminent eruption at this time.

Monitoring Notices: This morning, computer specialists will be performing maintenance on seismic data servers, which will cause a brief temporary interruption in public data streams of seismic stations. This interruption is expected to begin around 11:00 a.m. HST and last for approximately 1 hour, but it will not affect HVO’s ability to monitor Hawaii’s volcanoes.

Also this morning, technicians are planning to re-level the UWE tiltmeter located near Uēkahuna bluff in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. This work is the result of the instrument approaching the edge of its scale range, having recorded over 300 microradians of deformation since it was last re-leveled in August 2018. Subsequent data will likely be temporarily offset from the pre-releveling tilt trend. Additionally, the instrument will need time to settle from physical disturbance during the manual re-leveling, a process that may last several weeks. While it settles, UWE tilt data will remain qualitatively useful, providing indications of short-term volcanic processes, such as magma ascent at the onset of an eruption or intrusion. The offset will eventually be corrected with manual adjustments to better align the new data to old trends, providing a better, long-term representation of tilt deformation.