June 27 lava flow remains active within 5 miles of Puu Oo vent

The June 27 lava flow remains active within about 5 miles of the Puu Oo vent, U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists reported Tuesday morning.

That’s based on overflight and ground-based observations of Kilauea Volcano by USGS geologists late last week, the service said. Active lava from several breakouts in an area northeast of Puu Oo was also visible on webcam and satellite images.

The June 27 lava flow began June 27, 2014, and sent flows toward Pahoa that destroyed a home, prompted evacuations and inundated roads, land and a new transfer station. The flow’s forward progress came to a halt mauka of the town in March.

At Puu Oo, the tiltmeter on the vent’s north flank continued to show no significant tilt. Tiltmeters are used to measure tiny changes in the “tilt” or angle of the ground. Seismicity rates there were at normal background levels.

At the Kilauea Volcano summit, tiltmeters began to record inflation starting Monday evening. 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 the summit were at background levels during the past day.

Episodic bursts of seismic tremor associated with periods of vigorous spattering within the Overlook vent continued Tuesday morning. The summit lava lake, located within the vent on the floor of Halemaumau Carter, was 203 feet below the current Overlook vent rim. It remained out of view from the Jaggar Museum within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.