Kilauea Summit Update – 7/14/15

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reports that Kilauea’s summit DI deflationary-inflationary cycle switched to inflation early on Tuesday morning.

The event, which began on July 12, switched at about 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, when the Uwekehuna tiltmeter showed an increase of two-and-a-half micrordians of deflationary tilt. HVO officials say the Uwekahuna tiltmeter has since recovered about 0.8 microradians of inflationary tilt.

Circulation and spatter continues within the Overlook crater’s lava lake. A drop in the surface of the lava lake was also apparent with the recent summit deflation. On Monday morning, the lava lake’s surface was measured to be about 168 feet below the rim of the Overlook crater.

Low seismic levels continue below the summit of Kilauea as minimal discrete events and volcanic tremor and fluctuations in strength persist.

At Puʻu ʻŌʻō no significant changes have been reported. In addition, webcam images continue to show incandescent outgassing vents within the crater. Tiltmeters at Puʻu ʻŌʻō have not shown any effects of the current Kilauea summit DI event. Seismic activity is limited to low background activity.

Observations of webcam images of the June 27, 2014 lava flow continue to show breakouts within 5 miles to the northeast of Puʻu ʻŌʻō. HVO reports that webcam images suggest that there are higher levels of flow activity in the western lobes of the flow.