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Volcano Watch: Kilauea activity update for December 17, 2015


Time-lapse thermal image movie of Halemaumau Overlook Vent. December 10-17, 2015. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO


Time-lapse movie of Halemaumau Overlook Vent. December 10-17, 2015. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO


Time-lapse movie of Halemaʻumaʻu Overlook Vent from Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. December 10-17, 2015. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO


Time-lapse movie of Halemaumau Crater looking Southwest. December 10-17, 2015. Images courtesy of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park


Time-lapse movie of KÄ«lauea Caldera from Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. December 10-17, 2015. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO

(Activity updates are written by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.)

Kīlauea continues to erupt at its summit and East Rift Zone. The summit lava lake remains active within the Halema‘uma‘u Crater vent, with the lake level at about 38 m (125 ft) below the vent rim on December 17. On the East Rift Zone, scattered lava flow activity remained within about 6 km (4 mi) of Puʻu ʻŌʻō.

Mauna Loa is not erupting. The seismicity rate is elevated above background levels, but has not increased over rates observed in recent months. Continuous GPS measurements continue to show deformation consistent with inflation of magma reservoirs beneath Mauna Loa.

Two earthquakes were reported felt on the Island of Hawai‘i in the past week. On Monday, December 14, 2015, at 12:19 a.m., HST, a magnitude-2.6 earthquake occurred 8.0 km (5.0 mi) northwest of Captain Cook at a depth of 12.5 km (7.8 mi). On Wednesday, December 16, 2015, at 12:23 p.m., HST, a magnitude-3.9 earthquake occurred 15.2 km (9.4 mi) west of Kalapana at a depth of 7.3 km (4.6 mi).

Please visit the HVO website (http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov) for past Volcano Watch articles, KÄ«lauea daily eruption updates, Mauna Loa weekly updates, volcano photos, recent earthquakes info, and more; call for summary updates at 808-967-8862 (KÄ«lauea) or 808-967-8866 (Mauna Loa); email questions to askHVO@usgs.gov


Time-lapse multi-image movie of Pu’u ‘O’o Crater. December 10-17, 2015. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO


Time-lapse movie of Pu’u ‘O’o Crater North Flank from the North Rim. December 10-17, 2015. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO


Time-lapse movie from images gathered from a temporary thermal camera looking into Pu’u ‘O’o Crater. The temperature scale is in degrees Celsius up to a maximum of 500 Celsius (932 Fahrenheit) for this camera model, and scales based on the maximum and minimum temperatures within the frame. Thick fume, image pixel size and other factors often result in image temperatures being lower than actual surface temperatures. December 10-17, 2015. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO

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