Parts of KÄ«lauea’s caldera floor are now a jumble of down-dropped blocks and surface cracks. HVO field crews carefully hiked along Crater Rim Drive yesterday to verify the locations of USGS benchmarks (lower left), which will be used for additional geophysical work that will help document the recent summit changes. The view is to the northwest with one flank of Mauna Loa visible in the distance (upper right). Photo taken Wednesday, August 22, 2018 courtesy of U.S. Geological Survey

Southward facing aerial view of the fissure 8 cone. The two small areas of incandescence, gas jetting, and spatter from yesterday photograph appeared crusted over today. Photo taken Tuesday, August 21, 2018 courtesy of U.S. Geological Survey

Time-lapse movies at Mile Marker 14.5 of Pahoa-Kalapana Road (Route 130). Images courtesy HDOT

Time-lapse panorama of the KÄ«lauea Caldera Wide Angle from HVO Observation Tower. August 15-23, 2018. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO

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

Activity on KÄ«lauea’s lower East Rift Zone and at the summit of the volcano remains greatly diminished as of August 23. LERZ activity was limited to only a few ocean entries oozing lava and producing minimal laze plumes. Seismicity and ground deformation were negligible at the summit of KÄ«lauea, with no collapse event since August 2. However, hazardous conditions remain in both areas. Residents in the lower Puna and KÄ«lauea summit areas on the Island of HawaiÊ»i should stay informed and heed Hawai‘i County Civil Defense closures, warnings, and messages (http://www.hawaiicounty.gov/active-alerts). HVO daily status reports are posted at https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/status.html.

At Mauna Loa, HVO geophysical monitoring networks indicate that earthquakes and deformation are near background levels, and the USGS Volcano Alert level for the volcano remains at NORMAL.

HVO continues to closely monitor both KÄ«lauea and Mauna Loa and will report any significant changes on either volcano.

No earthquakes were reported felt in Hawaii this past week.