Kilauea Volcano summit lava lake continues to fluctuate

The lava lake within Halemaumau Crater continues to fluctuate, U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists said Thursday.

As of Thursday morning, Kilauea Volcano’s summit lava lake was about 161 feet below the floor of Halemaumau, scientists said, adding that seismic episodic bursts associated with spattering within the Overlook vent continued. On Wednesday, the lake was about 177 feet below the floor and on Tuesday it was about 239 feet below the rim.

The lava lake has dropped, as well as fluctuated, substantially in recent weeks. Lava had overflowed the crater rim periodically between April 21 and May 10 amid a period of increased activity at the summit of Kilauea Volcano that drew thousands to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to view.

The summit tiltmeter, which began recording an inflationary tilt on Monday, is now showing little change in tilt. 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.

Seismicity rates beneath upper East Rift Zone and Southwest Rift Zone have also been at normal, background levels for the past day.

The tiltmeter on the north flank of Puu Oo continued to show no significant change in tilt as of Thursday morning.

Breakouts along the June 27 lava flow remained active within about 5 miles of Puu Oo, scientists said Thursday.

The U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory on March 25 downgraded its alert level for Kilauea Volcano from a “warning” to a “watch.”