Kilauea Volcano summit showing signs of deflation

Kilauea Volcano’s summit is now showing signs of deflation, the U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said Friday.

The observatory said its tiltmeters, which are used to measure tiny changes in the slope angle or “tilt” of the ground, at the summit began recording a slow inflationary tilt early Friday. The change to deflation followed several days of inflation that commenced Monday, scientists said. 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.

Meanwhile, the lava lake within Halemaumau Crater continues to rise. On Friday morning, the summit lava lake was about 154 feet below the floor of Halemaumau Crater. Seismic episodic bursts associated with spattering within the Overlook vent continue.

On Thursday, the lava was 161 feet below the floor of Halemaumau. On Tuesday it was 239 feet below the floor. 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.

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 Friday morning.

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

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