Hawaiian Volcano Update: Kīlauea Surface Quiet, Alert Lowered

It's been two weeks without surface activity on Kīlauea, despite a small intrusion and continued land movements on the volcano. Accordingly, the USGS has lowered Kīlauea's alert status from Orange/Watch to Yellow/Advisory this week. Monitoring signals suggest Kīlauea's summit continues to extend and outwardly tilt, with earthquake rates still somewhat elevated over the previous two weeks. Most likely, the building underground pressure would lead to a resumption or new summit eruption, which could happen quickly given the elevated background, and yet today there are no signs that is imminent. There is still no sign of magma movement in the rift zones, and no cause for additional concern in local communities. Gas output remains low around background levels, but vog still registers occasionally in surrounding communities, remaining the primary volcanic hazard during this eruptive intermission. Maunaloa remains quiet, too, inflating with magma underground in the typical post-eruption pattern but lacking significant earthquakes that would precede its next activity. As usual, our live presentation reviews the recent changes using webcam timelapses, monitoring data and reports courtesy of the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, annotated on-screen, and we discuss live viewer questions. Video update: https://youtube.com/live/jPa4Os5l6Dw