Kilauea Summit Update – 7/8/15

Monday’s inflationary tilt recorded on tiltmeters at the summit of Kilauea continued into Wednesday.

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reports that a small reversal in the trend was recorded on Tuesday afternoon, but it didn’t last, switching back to slow inflation in the later part of the afternoon Tuesday.

According to HVO officials, the tiltmeter at Uwekahuna vault has recorded a net inflation of less than 1 microradian since July 6.

Below Kilauea’s summit, low levels of background seismic activity continues to be noted. HVO says the main seismic activity is coming from persistent volcanic tremor and variations in tremor, rather than discrete events.

Lava lake levels within the Overlook crater, as viewed from webcam imagery, do not appear to have changed since Tuesday, and remain about 128 feet below the rim of the Overlook vent, according to HVO.

At Puʻu ʻŌʻō, no recent changes have been observed. Seismicity remains at low levels of background seismic activity. HVO reports that webcam imagery continues to show multiple incandescent outgassing vents within the Puʻu ʻŌʻō crater that were first observed July 1.

HVO geologists monitoring the June 27, 2014 lava flow continue to note active lava breakouts within an area about 5 miles to the northeast of Puʻu ʻŌʻō.

This small-scale map shows Kīlauea’s active East Rift Zone lava flow in relation to lower Puna. The area of the flow on June 30 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of July 7 is shown in red. The blue lines show steepest-descent paths calculated from a 1983 digital elevation model.. Puʻu ʻŌʻō lava flows erupted prior to June 27, 2014, are shown in gray. USGS/HVO map.

This map shows recent changes to Kīlauea’s active East Rift Zone lava flow field. The area of the flow on June 30 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as of July 7 is shown in red. The yellow line is the active lava tube. Puʻu ʻŌʻō lava flows erupted prior to June 27, 2014, are shown in gray. USGS/HVO map.