The lava lake at Kilauea Volcano’s summit briefly reached the rim of Overlook Crater early Tuesday, the U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reports.
The lava lake at Kilauea Volcano’s summit briefly reached the rim of Overlook Crater early Tuesday, the U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reports.
The lava lake, during the past day, has fluctuated between 10 and 13 feet below the Overlook Crater rim on the floor of Halemaumau Crater, scientists said. They noted, however, the lake “also fluctuated to slightly deeper and shallower levels, depending on the vigor of spattering in the lake.”
During a period when the spattering stopped early Tuesday, the lava lake briefly reached the rim of the Overlook Crater, scientists said. However, it did not get high enough to overflow onto the Halemaumau Crater floor, which is located about 279 feet below Halemaumau’s rim. Jaggar Museum sits about 0.8 mile from the edge of Halemaumau Crater.
The current rise in the lava lake level comes amid a period of inflation at Kilauea, which began abruptly on April 21. Scientists on Tuesday said there was no significant inflation or deflation at the summit. During inflation, magma rises into the summit reservoir, according to the observatory. The summit reservoir enters the deflation portion of the cycle when the magma moves laterally into a rift zone and either erupts or is stored there.
The lava lake previously reached a high in October 2012 when it rose to within 77 feet of the Overlook Crater rim. The activity also came amid a period of inflation that later entered the deflation phase without notable incident.
The Overlook Crater within Halemaumau opened in 2008, after the viewing area near the rim of Halemaumau was closed in 2007 because of sulfur dioxide levels and safety concerns. When the Overlook Crater vent opened just below the viewing area, it measured about 115 feet wide. Today is it about 500 feet by 700 feet. Lava last covered the entire crater floor of Halemaumau in 1967 and 1968, nearly 50 years ago.
Meanwhile, scientists said webcams showed widespread lava breakouts along the June 27 lava flow within 5 miles of Puu Oo vent. Equipment at Puu Oo recorded weak deflation during the past day.
The U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory on March 25 downgraded its alert level for Kilauea Volcano from a “warning” to a “watch.”
Seismicity is elevated beneath Kilauea’s summit and upper East and Southwest Rift Zones. Sulfur dioxide emission rates averaged 3000-5200 tonnes/day for the week ending April 21.