Record Earthquakes

Kilauea summit may look like it's quiet, but it's not. Today there was a record 500 hundred earthquakes at the summit area in the past 24 hours. The largest was a 5.5

All those red circles are earthquakes that occurred between 3:30 this afternoon and 5:30 pm (right now as I write this entry). The red circles are right atop Kilaeua summit -- specifically Halema'uma'u. 

The above satellite image may be difficult for you to interpret, but it shows that the active vent and slumping takes up over half of what Halema'uma'u looked like a month ago. What you can't see is that the caldera itself is also sinking, up to 5 feet in some locations. 

Below is a photo captured from drone video footage, looking down the throat of Halema'uma'u. It shows the side walls caving in to fill the throat with rocky rubble and dust. This vent use to be 1/10 th the size that it now is. Until these past couple days, the steam plume coming from the vent was thick and aggressive. You could not get an image down the throat. Now the plume is essentially gone. Just some steam, but plenty of volcanic gas. 

ps------

I just got notice that there has been a minor explosion at the summit vent, causing an ash cloud that rise to 8000'. 

Drats. I must have something to do about causing it because I just spent the day cleaning up the ash from the solar panels, vehicles, farm equipment, and farm buildings. Got everything nice and clean. And here comes some more ash! Drats.