The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory will remain operational during the lapse of federal government appropriations. Basic volcano monitoring will continue, as will forecasts and regular updates of volcanic activity. However, because of reduced staff, only critical sensors will be maintained; all other instrument network maintenance will cease, meaning that our monitoring capability will degrade over time.
The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory will remain operational during the lapse of federal government appropriations. Basic volcano monitoring will continue, as will forecasts and regular updates of volcanic activity. However, because of reduced staff, only critical sensors will be maintained; all other instrument network maintenance will cease, meaning that our monitoring capability will degrade over time.
The HVO website (hvo.wr.usgs.gov) will remain functional, but only those pages containing information about current volcano hazards will be maintained. Because the majority of the HVO staff has been furloughed, the Sunday Volcano Watch column will be suspended, but we will continue to provide the weekly Kilauea update and the felt earthquake report.
The Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency is now the point-of-contact for the Great Hawaii Shakeout, which is coming up on Thursday, Oct. 17.
Kilauea
activity update
A lava lake within the Halema‘uma‘u Overlook vent produced nighttime glow that was visible via HVO’s webcam during the past week. A deflation-inflation cycle (DI events) occurred during the middle of last week (Oct. 1-3), and the lava lake level fell and rose correspondingly.
On Kilauea’s East Rift Zone, two small breakouts from the Peace Day tube are active above the pali. Those lower of these breakouts is barely visible from the visitor area in Kalapana. The Kahauale‘a 2 flow, fed from a spatter cone on the northeast edge of the Pu‘u ‘O‘o crater, continues to burn forest north of Pu‘u ‘O‘o. There are no active flows on the coastal plain, and there is no ocean entry.
One earthquake was reported felt on the Island of Hawaii in the past week. On Monday, Sept. 30, at 9 a.m., a magnitude-3.7 earthquake occurred 3 miles southeast of Kilauea Summit at a depth of 2 miles.
Visit the HVO website (http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov) for Volcano Awareness Month details and Kilauea, Mauna Loa, and Hualalai activity updates, recent volcano photos, recent earthquakes and more; call 967-8862 for a Kilauea summary; email questions to askHVO@usgs.gov.
Volcano Watch (http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanowatch/) is a weekly article and activity update written by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.