Earthquake rates increase overnight beneath Kīlauea summit region

The area just south of Kīlauea’s summit is showing signs of elevated unrest as earthquake rates beneath the region increased overnight from less than 10 earthquakes per day to over 140 earthquakes in the last 24 hours, according to Hawaiian Volcano Observatory this morning.

Kīlauea erupted briefly from Sept. 10-17. The event brought six active vents spewing lava from within Halema‘uma‘u crater, and just outside of it in the area known as the droppeddown block. September’s eruption was the shortest recorded eruption event since 1982, which lasted only a day.

Most of the earthquakes are now occurring in the region south of the caldera at depths of 1.5 to 2 miles below the surface. The trend of the seismic activity parallels, but is slightly south of the December 1974 eruption vents. Sulfur dioxide emission rates remain low and were measured at a rate of about 150 tonnes per day on Sept. 25.

No unusual activity has been noted along Kīlauea’s East Rift Zone or Southwest Rift Zone. Hawaiian Volcano Observatory will issue daily Kīlauea updates from today onward, as long as the elevated activity continues.

There have been six eruption events at the Kīlauea summit since 2020. Deputy Scientist-in-Charge David Phillips said this eruption ended similar to the one a few months ago, which lasted June 7-19, suddenly.

For discussion of Kīlauea hazards, see https://www.usgs.gov/observatories/hawaiian-volcano-observatory/hazards.