HVO/USGS Volcanic Activity Notice

Volcano: Kilauea (VNUM #332010)

Current Volcano Alert Level: WATCH
Previous Volcano Alert Level: ADVISORY

Current Aviation Color Code: ORANGE
Previous Aviation Color Code: YELLOW


Issued: Monday, September 16, 2024, 12:23 AM HST
Source: Hawaiian Volcano Observatory
Notice Number: 2024/H250
Location: N 19 deg 25 min W 155 deg 17 min
Elevation: 4091 ft (1247 m)
Area: Hawaii

Volcanic Activity Summary:

The intrusion of magma that began yesterday, September 14, in Kīlauea’s middle East Rift Zone, continues, increasing the potential of an eruption in this region. Accordingly, the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) is raising the Volcano Alert Level for ground-based hazards from ADVISORY to WATCH and the Aviation Color Code from YELLOW to ORANGE.    

Current activity is taking place in a remote area of Kīlauea’s middle East Rift Zone, within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. No changes have been detected in the lower East Rift Zone, or Southwest Rift Zone.  

Intense and localized earthquakes between Maunaulu and Makaopuhi Crater, accompanied by ground deformation patterns indicative of underground crack growth began at approximately 6 p.m. HST on September 14, 2024. While the intensity of earthquake activity has decreased, continued ground deformation changes show that magma is still moving beneath the ground from summit storage chambers to the area between Maunaulu and  Makaopuhi Crater. An InSAR image showing recent ground extension between Maunaulu and Makaopuhi Crater is available here: https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/september-15-2024-insar-image-kilauea-intrusion. 

Starting around 9 p.m. and continuing until 10 p.m. HST this evening, infrasound instruments detected a strong signal typical of gas or steam venting and seismometers in the middle East Rift Zone are recording weak, sustained low frequency tremor. However, HVO’s webcam network has not shown any evidence of eruptive activity and GOES satellite data do not show any thermal anomalies at this time. Currently, strong rainfall in the area is complicating interpretation. In 2007, an intrusion in this area erupted a very small pad of lava approximately the size of half a football field, so it is possible a similarly small eruption could take place without detection in these conditions. 

Numerous eruptions took place in this area during the 1960s–1970s, most of which lasted less than one day to about two weeks. Long-lived eruptions took place at Maunaulu (1969–1971 and 1972–1974) and Puʻuʻōʻō (1983–2018). The most recent eruption in this area took place over 35 years at and near the Puʻuʻōʻō vent. The location of any future outbreak will determine what areas could be in the path of new lava flows. A map of past eruptive activity in the upper-to-middle East Rift Zone of Kīlauea is available here: https://www.usgs.gov/maps/kilauea-middle-east-rift-zone-reference-map.  

HVO is in close contact with Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park and the Hawai‘i County Civil Defense Agency. Please see the Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park website for visitor information: https://www.nps.gov/havo/index.htm. 

HVO will continue to monitor this activity closely and adjust the alert level/aviation color code for Kīlauea accordingly. Should volcanic activity change significantly, a new Volcanic Activity Notice will be issued. Hazards are present on Kīlauea and are described below. 

For more information about the meaning of volcano alert levels and aviation color codes, see https://www.usgs.gov/programs/VHP/volcanic-alert-levels-characterize-conditions-us-volcanoes 

Recent Observations:
[Volcanic cloud height] N/A
[Other volcanic cloud information] N/A
[Ballistics] N/A
[Lava flow/dome] N/A
[Lava flow] N/A

Remarks:

Hazard Analysis: 

Shallow magma movement and eruptions can produce minor to severe ground fractures and subsidence features, which can affect the landscape. These ground cracks can continue to widen and offset as magma migration continues, may have unstable overhanging edges, and should be avoided.  

Other significant hazards also remain around Kīlauea caldera from Halemaʻumaʻu crater wall instability, ground cracking, and rockfalls that can be enhanced by earthquakes within the area closed to the public. This underscores the extremely hazardous nature of the rim surrounding Halemaʻumaʻu crater, an area that has been closed to the public since early 2008.   
 
For discussion of Kīlauea hazards, please see: https://www.usgs.gov/observatories/hawaiian-volcano-observatory/hazards. 

Contacts:

askHVO@usgs.gov

Next Notice:

Kīlauea updates will be issued daily. Regularly scheduled updates are posted on the HVO website at https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/volcano-updates  

More Information:

• Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park visitor information: https://www.nps.gov/havo/index.htm
• Kīlauea activity summary also available by phone: (808) 967-8862
• Kīlauea webcam images: https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/webcams
• Kīlauea photos/video: https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/photo-and-video-chronology
• Kīlauea lava-flow maps: https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/maps
• Kīlauea FAQs: https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/faqs
• Kīlauea hazards discussion: https://www.usgs.gov/observatories/hawaiian-volcano-observatory/hazards
   

Subscribe to these messages: https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/vns2/
Summary of volcanic hazards from eruptions: https://www.usgs.gov/observatories/hvo/hazards
Recent earthquakes in Hawaiʻi (map and list): https://www.usgs.gov/observatories/hvo
Explanation of Volcano Alert Levels and Aviation Color Codes: https://www.usgs.gov/programs/VHP/volcanic-alert-levels-characterize-conditions-us-volcanoes