Kilauea Summit Update – 6/12/15

The summit of Kilauea Volcano remains under inflationary tilt. Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reported Friday that tiltmeters at the summit have continued to show inflation for the fourth day in a row.

With inflationary tilt comes the rise of the lava lake within the Overlook Crater. HVO reports that the lava lake surface is currently 151 feet below the current Halema’uma’u floor. This is about 23 feet higher than what was measured on Thursday. This continued, steady inflation is also accompanied by episodic bursts of seismic tremor that are associated with periods of vigorous spattering within the crater.

HVO says that thermal cracking sounds, which are associated with the rising lava lake coming closer to the overhanging vent wall material, were heard periodically on Thursday.

Seismicity below Kilauea’s summit and the Puʻu ʻŌʻō area continues to be at background levels.

Closing out another week with relative silence, HVO reports that no significant tilt has been observed along the north flanks of Puʻu ʻŌʻō.

Observation of the June 27 lava flow through webcam and satellite imagery shows that active lava breakouts continuously extend from an area about 5 miles to the northeast of Puʻu ʻŌʻō.