Kīlauea Eruption Update: Summit Eruption Most Voluminous in 100 Years

Kīlauea's summit eruption is approaching nine months of activity, and has now passed a milestone previously held by the 1967-68 summit eruption, which lasted eight-and-a-half months. The most recent eruption volume of 92.5 million cubic meters (or 24.4 billion gallons) now exceeds the 55-year record of 90 million cubic meters, and suggests an incremental rate of 4.2 cubic meters per second (or 5.5 cubic yards/s) in the last 5 weeks, similar to the long-term Puʻuʻōʻo activity that ended in 2018. Eruption viewing is getting better and better, visible from multiple overlooks within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, with more oozing in the past few days of the small, persistent lava lake, and lake overturning and bank collapses caught on video. There is no increased volcanic threat to people, but the primary hazard of vog still continues to affect the island despite the favorable summer weather pattern, easing a bit this past week. We review the past week's webcams, images and video illustrating the ongoing changes, as well as monitoring data and reports courtesy of the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, highlighting the graphics and discussing live viewer questions as we go. We touch on background earthquake activity and the still-quiet Maunaloa volcano. We include lava viewing examples courtesy of Two Pineapples, with whom we collaborate once again this week to bring a live look into Kīlauea. In the second half of the program, we catch up on USGS Volcano Watch articles and our previously postponed Hawaiian Volcanoes Research Roundup segment with a recap of a handful of findings including Kīlauea's deepest magma source 60 miles down, and its place compared to its other magma reservoirs. https://youtu.be/0ygdwSVsj68