Through the Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Act of 2019 (H.R. 2157), the USGS received Supplemental funding to support recovery and rebuilding activities in the wake of the 2018 Kīlauea volcano eruption. As part of eruption response bolstering, HVO will restore and harden its network of monitoring instruments, including cameras.
HVO will restore and harden its network of real-time monitoring instruments at the summit and in critical areas along the rift zones to support early detection of magma movement and more accurate and timely characterization of hazards to Island of Hawai‘i communities and Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. Instruments lost in the eruption will be replaced, other parts of the network will be modernized, and new instruments will be added. Data from a suite of instruments measuring multiple parameters are required to provide the best warnings and forecasts of eruptive activity. Seismometers, GPS/GNSS, tiltmeters, gas sensors, and gravimeters are needed to assess the state of the volcano. Thermal and visual camera systems will enable HVO to monitor surface activity at the summit and lower East Rift Zone and neighboring Mauna Loa. HVO will restore and improve its capability to detect gases coming from magma rising into the system.
Visual and Thermal Cameras
Activity Description/Goal: Harden HVO visual and thermal camera monitoring capacity to enable more accurate detection and rapid characterization of hazards.
Key Successes/Outcomes:
2019-2020 Kīlauea summit water lake:
- Colorimeter-tracking water lake color- some lakes exhibit color changes before erupting
- Time-lapse cameras documented water-color convection, variations, and sources.
2020-21 Kīlauea summit eruption response:
- Continuous laser rangefinder– tracking lava lake levels in real-time
- High resolution handheld thermal camera – mapping lava lakes and flows
- Long-range handheld laser rangefinders – used to track water and lava lake levels, fountain heights, and cone and fissure dimensions
- 4K camcorder – capturing eruption dynamics for research
- Video-lapse cameras – eruption dynamics over long periods
- Cellular trail cameras - rapid response webcams deployed at HMM and the intrusion
- Next generation of thermal webcams – continuous thermal monitoring
- Photogrammetry computer – used to build Sfm models
2021 Kīlauea summit intrusion response:
- Time-lapse cameras monitoring previous blind spots on Kīlauea upper east rift zone, upper southwest rift zone, and south caldera.
- In addition, two axis cameras have been successfully deployed to harden Mauna Loa views on the southwest rift zone and the northeast rift zone. The remaining cameras purchased are ready to be deployed, and sites are selected, including a 360˚ camera planned for the Kīlauea SWRZ and on Hualālai to monitor the radial vents region of Mauna Loa (NW flank). A majority of these cameras are being harden and will be deployed to fill in blind spots in the monitoring coverage. Several of the new cameras are replacing failing cameras, and others will upgrade old models that are becoming obsolete and have lower resolution.