Hawaiian Volcano Update: Kīlauea's Year-End Intrusion Pulse

Happy New Year! Kīlauea begins 2024 in much the same way it ended 2023, continuing to intrude magma to the south and southwest of the caldera within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, with no increased threat to people. The potential remains for the pulses of intrusion to continue up to several months, or to quickly ramp up to an eruption in those most dynamic areas. Gas emissions remain at background levels for the volcano around 80 tonnes of SO2 per day, but can still affect sensitive individuals downwind.

The highlight of the past two weeks was another surge of shallow seismicity in the two days before New Year's Eve, while deeper earthquakes beneath Kīlauea sporadically continue since mid-December. The volcano continues to swell as evidenced by ground-tilt and GPS measurements, but thus far each pulse since the end of the September eruption has been accommodated by filling or creating underground space.

Maunaloa remains relatively quiet with few earthquakes, still inflating as it recharges with magma, and remains at the lowest USGS warning level.