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

Elevated unrest continues in the summit area, with another pulse of seismicity occurring on the upper East Rift Zone as of Thursday morning.

UPDATE – (10 a.m.) – “The strong pulse of earthquakes this morning is clustered near the intersection of the Chain of Craters and Hilina Pali roads and is not clearly associated with dike formation at this time,” the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory stated in a morning update.

USGS maps show this latest pulse of activity is happening closer to the summit caldera then the previous earthquake swarms, which were occurring closer to Pauahi Crater.

Electronic tilt at Kīlauea summit is still showing deflation. The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory previously reported the ongoing seismicity, local deformation, and steady deflation of the summit region was indicative that magma was moving underground into the upper East Rift Zone.

USGS: “This map shows recent deformation at Kīlauea, over the timeframe of July 15-24, 2024. Data were 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 southeast of Pauahi Crater on the upper East Rift Zone indicates inflation over this time period due to magma accumulation underground. Arrow in the upper left indicates satellite orbit direction (arrow) and look direction (bar).”

Closures remain in place within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park due to the elevated unrest. Chain of Craters Road is closed at the Devastation intersection to the coast, Kulanaokuaiki Campground is closed, and Escape Road (trail) and Crater Rim Trail are closed south of Nāhuku. 

UPDATE – (10 a.m.) – From the USGS HVO update on Thursday morning:

Activity Summary: Kīlauea is not erupting. Upper East Rift Zone unrest continues, with a pulse of increased seismicity starting at around 10 a.m. H.S.T. yesterday and another pulse starting this morning at around 4 a.m. and is still ongoing at the time of writing. Over 500 earthquakes have been detected in the past 24 hours, including 12 magnitude-3 or greater. The largest earthquake in the elevated unrest sequence that started on July 22 was a magnitude-3.9 this morning at 4:33 a.m. H.S.T. Over the past 24 hours, seismicity and ground deformation rates remain elevated, and data suggests magma may be slowly moving out of the summit storage region. Additional seismic pulses or swarms may occur with little or no warning and result in either continued intrusion of magma or eruption of lava.

Summit and Upper East Rift Zone Observations: Over the past 24 hours, there were approximately 4 earthquakes detected beneath Kaluapele, Kīlauea’s summit caldera, and approximately 524 earthquakes detected beneath the upper East Rift Zone (UERZ), mostly at depths of 0–4 km (0.0–2.5 mi) below the ground surface. Most events were smaller than magnitude-2, but there were 12 earthquakes magnitude-3 or higher in the UERZ. The largest event was a magnitude-3.9 this morning at 4:33 a.m. H.S.T. While UERZ seismicity has been elevated throughout the past 24 hours, there were two pulses of intense seismicity, representing the third and fourth pulses of the ongoing unrest sequence. The third pulse started at around 10 a.m. yesterday and was focused near Pauahi Crater (similar to the first two pulses). The fourth pulse started this morning around 4 a.m. H.S.T. and is ongoing. The fourth pulse is focused on the area near the intersection of the Chain of Craters and Hilina Pali roads. Tiltmeters in Kīlauea summit region (instruments SDH, southwest of the summit, and UWE, northwest of the summit) continued recording a net deflationary trend over the past 24 hours, suggesting magma may be moving out of the summit storage region. The most recent measurement of the summit’s SO2 emission rate was approximately 65 tonnes per day on July 23, 2024.