Kīlauea Quakes Quiet Further & 1955 Anniversary, February 29, 2024

As February comes to an end, Kīlauea’s earthquakes have subdued even further, continuing their wind-down following the Southwest Rift intrusion’s peak one month ago. Summit monitoring streams show little change from one week ago, although the volcano has recently been on an inflationary trend as it slowly refills with magma underground. Kīlauea’s southwest flank appears to still be adjusting to the recent injection, and perhaps helps relieve pressure at the summit by creating space for magma down the Southwest Rift through its movement. Volcanic gas emissions, the main current threat to residents and visitors, remained relatively low around 100 tonnes of SO2 per day, though are still a concern for sensitive individuals. As a bonus this week, we delve into Kīlauea’s February 28, 1955 eruption in Lower Puna through video, maps and descriptions.

Otherwise, Maunaloa remains fairly quiet with few earthquakes and sustained inflation as it recharges with magma, and remains at the lowest USGS warning level.

As usual we review the monitoring signals, imagery and reports available courtesy of the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, annotating the presentation on screen and discussing live viewer questions as we go.

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