Kilauea Volcano summit lava lake level drops

Kilauea Volcano’s summit lava lake continue to fluctuate, the U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reported Thursday.

Kilauea Volcano’s summit lava lake was about 150 feet below the floor of Halemaumau Crater, the scientists said Thursday morning, adding that during the morning hours there was abrupt changes int he circulation pattern of the lake in response to spattering and gas release. On Wednesday, the lava was within 115 to 130 feet of the rim and on Tuesday, lava was within 177 feet of the crater floor. On June 15, the lake was about 240 feet below the floor.

The observatory said the drop in the lava lake level between Wednesday and Thursday coincided with a change from inflation to deflation at the summit. Around 1 a.m. Thursday, the volcano, which had been inflating for a couple of days, switched to deflation. 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.

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.

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 Thursday 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.”

Get the latest on volcano activity by visiting our Volcano Update page.