Kilauea Eruption 12/23/24

[Durian Fiend]

According to the USPS when it starts flowing continuously or fountaining.
Too bad it's foggy and rainy. You could probably go up there and hang around because it should start sometime today.

 I was up there a couple hours ago and could see the steaming crater from Byron ledge.  There was less rain in the park than further downslope, plenty of visitors.

[Obie]

I hope you meant USGS. If it was up to USPS, it could go on for days without getting a notice. 
Thanks for that info, Obie.

Thanks, I need a proofreader. Of course these days maybe the USPS and USGS will be merged together.

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Watching a live stream at Luquin's and it's starting and stopping right now.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

It’s moving, but no fountains at this moment… yet…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oG5zz9Sjw3E&pp=0gcJCfcAhR29_xXO

[kalianna]

Looks pretty erupty to me.

[Obie]

Keep watching for a while.

From USGS :
The south vent flows shut off around 10:35 a.m. HST. Cyclic low dome fountains have been alternating with short drainbacks every 5-10 minutes with the interval decreasing over time. Maximum dome fountains are 30 feet high (10 meters) and are occurring within a 200 foot by 150 foot (65 by 45 meters) lava pond that drops about 5-10 feet (2-3 meters) during each drainback event within the north cone. Fountain heights are expected to grow within the next several hours as gas-rich magma increases as the denser, degassed lava is erupted from the vent.

[TomK]

Well maybe you'll listen to USGS for some answers to your questions TomK. The "blips" or "diurnal noise" are real readings from the instrument caused by the thermal expansion of the surrounding rock.

Sigh...

Yes, I know that. I asked whether the instruments were subject to thermal expansion and contraction and, if so, what corrections were made. There's no point measuring a very small effect using an instrument subject to the same effect without correction. Given that the instruments are on or close to the surface, they experience the same conditions as the rock or soil surface layer.

[kalianna]

Eruption (albeit small so far) without deflation. Very interesting.

[TomK]

Eruption (albeit small so far) without deflation.  Very interesting.

Could you share the link to the data you're looking at?

[MyManao]

This uneven expansion partially helps answer my question as to why the daily tilt pattern happens at all, but not why it appears to always be in an inflationary direction in the data provided..

And therein lies the reason for my thoughts in the first place. Which for me is the unusualness of seeing a diurnal effect superimposed over an inflationary event. We usually see the diurnal when it is able to show up because of no other influences. When the tilt is going up or down it is usually too much to allow the diurnal to be seen at the same time.. so.. looking back, again, at what I posted to begin with.. #57 in this thread, in response to kalianna I posted..

But if atmospheric temps affected tilt..

Seasonal.. I get it but can’t imagine being able to tease it out of the record. There's so much that goes on over time to sift through.

The thing is under normal.. ie closed off from the surface.. circumstances I am not used to seeing tis type of signal when there’s inflation deflation cycles tied to episodic phases of eruptive activity. The only time I see it on a regular basis is when the inflation is flat..

For instance.. here’s the same time periods of tilt, one week and one month, of the summit of Mauna Loa..

One week..



One month..



In which the diurnal is very graphic and the end result is easy to see an average of the daily wave.. unlike Kilauea’s which is rising.

So.. with that go back to my otherwise most recent post.. #84.. where I ask is the steps in the inflation which are cause by the diurnal just noise, or does the diurnal itself add to the eruptive process?

And, to that I'll add.. simplistically..

A volcano is pretty much a giant hydraulic system.

In a closed hydraulic system, with a fluid that itself is minimally compressible, it is easy to visualize how, when a force is applied at one point of the enclosure the fluid then transfers that force through itself to all parts of the system, more or less instantly. In this way a break system on a car transfers the force of a driver’s foot on the break pedal to the breaks at all four wheels and slows the vehicle. The driver sits comfortably in the driver’s seat and applies pressure to the break pedal, and the hydraulic system efficiently transfers that energy to the wheels and what started as a few pounds of pressure moving the pedal a few inches turns into enough energy to slow/stop a moving vehicle. Simple closed system hydraulics.

If that same closed break system were to get a hole in it it would then become an open system, and all the energy applied to the pedal would push the enclosed fluids to the opening in the system without exerting pressure elsewhere. Of course there could be an opening that is, relative to the system, small enough it would allow the system to maintain some or most of its pressure and only a small amount of fluid to be leaked out over time while the bulk of the pressure applied to the pedal would still result in stopping the vehicle. In other words there’s some gray between closed and open.

Which is Kilauea, and with that in mind what is the effect of the diurnal?

And, btw, I have been reading this tilt station's data since its inception, and at one point was involved in quantifying how much magma was equal to the rate of change being recorded. Then, when we were able to compare exact amounts of lava erupted to the amount of tilt recorded, it was pretty much 1 microrad to 1 million cubic meters of lava. So, with these steps in tilt being as much as 1/2 microradian they can amount to the over all volume being recorded being a fair amount different which ever way they are interpreted.

[ironyak]

TomK - Sigh...
Sigh indeed - if you read the USGS link provided (or this paper) you might see why given the installation conditions the instrument itself is unlikely to be heated in an uneven way and therefore the cause of the diurnal pattern. There is more discussion there, and in the Mt Edna paper, of other subtle causes of noise (including even the tilt detected due to rain filling the small air gaps or pores in the surrounding rock!) that are accounted for by those involved with the work.

MyManao - In a closed hydraulic system, with a fluid that itself is minimally compressible... If that same closed break system were to get a hole in it it would then become an open system... Which is Kilauea...?

So you're saying it's like a pie crust growing more flaky as it heats... ;) More seriously, it would seem to me like other volcanoes under observation may offer some comparisons? Are there volcanoes where the diurnal heating isn't as great and therefore this possible bump in magma accumulation isn't as pronounced or not present at all? Alaska volcanoes comparing between summer and winter where the difference in thermal gain from solar exposure would be the most pronounced? Just thinking that in trying to sus out a correlation/causation issue that other systems might help to isolate the effect.

ETA: Looks like the deflation (and listing to a side?) really kicked off at around 6a kalianna. Someone more knowledgeable might have insight as to the delay timing between the eruptions & deflation detections.
https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/electr...ast-2-days

Regardless, the idea of earth tides was eye opening enough for me to recognize how little I know about the world. Going to go surf the ground swell as the sun passes overhead. A hui hou!