July 2, 2024 — Leveling the UWE tiltmeter at the summit of Kīlauea

On July 2, 2024, HVO field engineers re-leveled the UWE tiltmeter located near Uēkahuna bluff in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. The instrument has recently approached the edge of its scale range, having recorded over 300 microradians of deformation since it was last re-leveled in August 2018. UWE data are temporarily offset from the pre-releveling tilt trend as a result of the leveling processes. Additionally, the instrument will need time to settle from physical disturbance during the manual re-leveling, a process that may last several weeks. While it settles, UWE tilt data will remain qualitatively useful, providing indications of short-term volcanic processes, such as magma ascent at the onset of an eruption or intrusion. The offset will eventually be corrected with manual adjustments to better align the new data to old trends, providing a better, long-term representation of tilt deformation. USGS image by M. Warren.