Kīlauea Weekly Report, July 20, 2021: More Inflation & Earthquakes

Nearly two months have elapsed since lava was last sighted on Kīlauea on May 23, and while the volcano continues to show signs of inflation underground, its surface remains quiet. There are no signs of an imminent breakthrough, but another month remains for its most recent eruption to “resume” based on the technical definition in current use. Gas emissions remain low, most recently 60-70 tonnes per day of SO2 according to the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory’s latest updates. Seismicity continues to be elevated and concentrated under the summit and upper rift zone connectors, as GPS and ground-tilt monitors also reflect the swelling pattern. Most interesting this week, the slightly larger earthquakes are concentrated at the bend in the East Rift Zone near Maunaulu, with six events from magnitudes 2.1 to 2.8 within 18 hours ending the morning of June 19. While this is not new or alarming for the region, perhaps it is more noticeable this week as the summit quakes were generally smaller. In summary, another week of continued filling of the summit and near-summit magma reservoirs is producing similar signals, with no sign of imminent change in activity or hazard. #Kilauea2021 Join our weekly live video review of Kīlauea and Maunaloa volcanoes, at 5pm Hawaiʻi time Thursdays! To support our productions please like, share and subscribe! Mahalo! [USGS Image & Caption: This close-up view of the western fissure within Halema‘uma‘u at the summit of Kīlauea was captured on Friday, July 16, 2021. HVO scientists were making a routine observational visit to the crater rim; no changes to the inactive lava lake were detected. For scale, the top of the fissure complex was measured to be standing approximately 20 m (66 ft) above the surrounding pāhoehoe lava flows. ]