Kilauea Volcano’s summit lava lake remains out of view

Kilauea Volcano’s summit lava lake remained well below the floor of Halemaumau Crater on Tuesday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reports.

As of Tuesday morning, Kilauea Volcano’s summit lava lake was about 177 feet below the floor of Halemaumau, the scientists said, adding that seismic episodic bursts associated with vigorours spattering within the Overlook vent continued. One week ago, on June 15, the lake was about 240 feet below the floor. Since then, it has fluctuated, reaching as to within 151 feet below the rim of the vent, which is located on the floor of Halemaumau Crater.

Lava last 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 lava lake remained out of view Tuesday from the Jaggar Museum, which is located within the park.

The summit tiltmeter, which began recording an deflationary tilt on Monday, is now showing signs of inflation, officials 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.

Seismicity rates beneath the summit, upper East Rift Zone and Southwest Rift Zone have 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 Tuesday morning.

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

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