Scientists deploy temporary seismic instruments at Kīlauea on 1/1/2021

With the onset of the eruption at Kīlauea summit on December 20, 2020, the HVO monitoring network has been recording volcanic tremor, a signal that travels through the subsurface as magma degasses and erupts from vents to fill a lava lake at the summit. Since the signal is continuous, it can be used to track the migration and storage of magma in Kīlauea's shallow volcanic plumbing system. How these patterns change over time allow volcanologists to gain a greater understanding of how magma is migrating and being stored beneath Kīlauea. On January 1, 2021, USGS field crews deployed a temporary seismic instrument on the down-dropped block that formed during Kīlauea's 2018 summit collapse. These temporary stations, installed with permission from Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, will supplement data already being collected by HVO's permanent seismic network. USGS image by P. Dotray.