Photos taken on Friday, September 6, and today (Monday), September 9, show that the water level in the pond continues to slowly rise. For example, the rock marked by the arrow is a good indicator of the change in water level over the weekend. USGS photos by M. Patrick.

(BIVN) – New images, including video and a time-lapse animation, have been released showing the changes to the water pond at the bottom of Halemaʻumaʻu carter at the summit of Kīlauea Volcano.

The volcano is not erupting, and the pond at the bottom of Halema’uma’u – which began forming on July 25, 2019, continues to slowly expand and deepen – reports the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

On Monday, the USGS HVO released a new video, showing views of the water pond recorded on Friday, September 6, and Monday, September 9. “Ripples are evident on the pond, presumably due to wind moving over the water surface,” the scientists noted. “No significant changes in the pond were observed over the weekend, and the water level continues to slowly rise.”

USGS HVO also released an animated image file that shows “how the water pond at the bottom of Halema‘uma‘u rose between August 6 and September 8, 2019,” using a sequence of one webcam image per day.

These images are from HVO’s K3 webcam, which peers into Halema‘uma‘u from the west rim of the crater.

“Since early March 2019, GPS stations and tiltmeters at the Kīlauea summit have recorded deformation consistent with slow magma accumulation within the shallow portion of the Kīlauea summit magma system (1-2 km or approximately 1 mile below ground level),” the USGS HVO wrote in its monthly Kīlauea update. “However, gas measurements have yet to indicate significant shallowing of magma. HVO continues to carefully monitor all data streams at the Kīlauea summit for important changes.”