Kīlauea Southwest Rift Zone Seismic Node Deployment

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) staff, along with collaborators from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, are installing seismic nodes on the Southwest Rift Zone of Kīlauea this week as part of a project funded by the Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Act of 2019 (H.R. 2157). With permission from Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park and other landowners, the seismic nodes are being temporarily deployed over the summer to record ground shaking generated by earthquakes. HVO scientists will use the data to create images of the structure of the Earth beneath Pāhala from as great as 40–50 km (25–31 miles) below sea level all the way to the surface. You can learn more about the project in this “Volcano Watch” article: https://www.usgs.gov/observatories/hvo/news/volcano-watch-using-earthquakes-look-under-hood-pahala. USGS photo by N. Bennington.