Kilauea Volcano’s summit lava lake continues to fluctuate amid changes in summit inflation and deflation, but remained well below the rim of the Overlook crater, the U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reported Friday. ADVERTISING Kilauea Volcano’s summit lava lake
Kilauea Volcano’s summit lava lake continues to fluctuate amid changes in summit inflation and deflation, but remained well below the rim of the Overlook crater, the U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reported Friday.
Kilauea Volcano’s summit tiltmeters, which are used to measure tiny changes in the “tile” or angle of the ground, began recording inflation around 1:30 a.m. Friday, scientists said. That followed about a period of deflation, which lasted about a day. 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.
Scientists said such activity is “typical” for the Kilauea summit.
With the changes in tilt at the summit, the lava lake level within the Overlook vent on the floor of Halemaumau Crater has varied. Between Thursday and Friday, it ranged from about 147 feet to about 164 feet below the vent’s rim, the observatory said.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.
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 and upper East Rift Zone have been at normal, background levels for the past day. Scientists did note that there has been a slight elevation in earthquake activity at the Southwest Rift Zone.
The tiltmeter on the north flank of Puu Oo continued to show no significant change in tilt as of Friday morning. However, scientists did observe lava from a vent on the north side of the crater spill onto the floor of Puu Oo.
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.”
