The Chain of Craters Road, which leads to a coastal petroglyph site, has reopened at Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park/Kurt Repanshek file
A reduction in seismic activity at Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park has settled down, leading to a reopening of areas of the park that had been closed.
Park officials said Saturday that seismicity has returned to normal levels in Kīlauea volcano’s upper East Rift Zone (ERZ) and near its summit. Areas accessed by Chain of Craters Road, including coastal backcountry sites, Hilina Pali Road, Kulanaokuaiki Campground, Nāpau, and Pepeiao Cabin are now open. The Kaʻū Desert Trail is also open.
Over the last week, USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists and park staff monitored thousands of shallow low-magnitude earthquakes below the upper ERZ and just south of the summit caldera. According to USGS, the consistent decrease in both seismicity and ground deformation over the past 30 hours to background levels indicates that this pulse of unrest has ended.
While the unrest appears to be over, Kīlauea is one of the most active volcanoes on earth and conditions can change at any time.
