Hawaiian Volcanoes Summary: Kīlauea Build-up Draws On, May 18, 2023

Another week passes on Kīlauea without an eruption, though its summit continues to inflate accompanied by elevated rates of earthquakes. Volcanic gas emissions spiked on May 12-13 above 400 tonnes of SO2 per day before dropping back to ~150 on May 16, suggesting magma is close to the surface but is being accommodated by changes below ground. Gas and vog continue to affect nearby communities as the volcano's primary threat, subject to the wind. As has been the case for a month now, only time will tell when this build-up will lead to a new intrusion, eruption, or resumption of the previous activity, but all the signals remain at the summit. There is no sign of anything unusual in either of the volcano's rift zones, and thus no increased threat to people. Maunaloa remains quiet as magma continues the normal process of refilling its summit reservoir, with no further changes to report. As usual, our presentation reviews the recent changes using monitoring data and reports courtesy of the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. https://youtu.be/WuLEkI-Eeuw