Kilauea Volcano’s summit continues to inflate Wednesday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reports.
Kilauea Volcano’s summit continues to inflate Wednesday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reports.
AKilauea Volcano’s summit lava lake was about 115 to 130 feet below the floor of Halemaumau Crater, the scientists said Wednesday morning, adding that seismic episodic bursts associated with vigorous spattering within the Overlook vent continued. On Tuesday, lava was within 177 feet of the crater floor, and on June 15, the lake was about 240 feet below the floor.
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 summit tiltmeter, which began recording an inflation tilt on Tuesday, continues to record 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 Wednesday 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.”
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