Lava falls continue to cascade into Nāpau Crater as Kīlauea eruption increases in volume

The Big Island’s Kīlauea volcano continues to erupt this morning, now from a fourth vent system that opened Wednesday afternoon just west of Nāpau Crater inside Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park and rapidly began creating cascades of lava — or lava falls — that poured over the western cliffs of the crater.

Lava falls were still visible on the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory’s S2 webcam this morning as of its 10:24 a.m. update.

“The eruption is occurring within a closed and remote area of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. There is no immediate threat to life or infrastructure,” reiterated the volcano observatory. “Residents of nearby subdivisions may experience volcanic gas emissions related to this activity, which may increase and decrease over the coming hours and days.”

Sulfur dioxide emission rates measured Wednesday were 10,000 tonnes per day for the new vent that opened in the afternoon.

Comparatively, the most recent measurement of SO2 emission rate at the volcano’s summit was 60 tonnes per day on Tuesday.

“The vog is back,” proclaimed Chris Vandy Vanderford in an 8:45 a.m. post today on Facebook in the Hawaiian Ocean View views. group with a photo showing a very hazy, almost what you could call gritty, sky over Ocean View.

It had one reaction as of about 11 a.m., which was Olafur Isfeld giving the sky filled with volcanic smog a sad face.

Kīlauea’s volcano alert level remains at watch and aviation color code at orange. No changes have been detected in the lower East Rift Zone or Southwest Rift Zone.

With only 1 small, shallow earthquake detected beneath the summit region during the past day and the tiltmeter at Sandhill continuing to record strong deflation and weaker deflation seen by the tiltmeter at Uēkahuna, patterns indicate that the summit magma body continues to supply magma to the middle East Rift Zone.

The lava falls from the fissure that opened Wednesday afternoon just west of Nāpau Crater continue to pour into the crater. Lava has now covered about 300,000 square yards — or one-third — of the crater floor since the new phase of the eruption began.

The rate of coverage indicates lava is erupting at roughly 6-16 cubic yards per second.

Fountaining at the new vent site remained strong at just before 10:30 a.m. today as observed on the S2 webcam.

About two-thirds of the total Nāpau Crater floor, or about 125 acres, has been covered by lava so far since the first phase of the eruption Sunday night.

The number of shallow earthquakes remains very low in the middle East Rift Zone, with about 20 in the past 24 hours, most to the west and northwest of Nāpau Crater.

However, tremor remains strong on seismometers close to the eruption site and increased significantly with the onset of the new vent yesterday.

Tiltmeters in the middle East Rift Zone continue to show no significant changes.

GPS instruments have shown recent displacements of greater than 8 inches for several stations, with the largest just downslope of Makaopuhi Crater, which has experienced 1.8 feet of south-southwest motion since Sept. 14.

The combination of large displacements and modest tilt rates suggests much of the deformation is the result of magma entering a storage region 1 to 2 miles below the surface.

All activity is currently confined to the middle East Rift Zone between Makaopuhi Crater and Puʻuʻōʻō and there are no indications of any changes further downrift.

Now in its fourth phase of vent opening and lava production, this eruption has increased in volume, with the current phase being the largest to date.

Multi-day fissure eruptions are not unusual and current eruptive activity appears to be linked to supply of magma from the summit.

While the eruption is happening in a remote and closed off area of the national park, hazards do exist, including high levels of volcanic gas, primarily water vapor and sulfur dioxide, which can have far-reaching effects downwind.

Vog has the the potential for airborne health hazards to people, animals and plants. For more information about vog, click here. To learn about other gas hazards from Kīlauea, click here.

Shallow magma movement and eruptions can also produce minor to severe ground fractures and subsidence features, which can affect the landscape, human activity and infrastructure.

These ground cracks can continue to widen and offset as magma migration continues, can have unstable overhanging edges and should be avoided.

Additional ground cracking and outbreaks of lava around the active fissures are possible at any time or existing fissures can be reactivated.

For a more extensive discussion about all Kīlauea hazards, visit the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory website.

The observatory continues to closely monitor the middle East Rift Zone and is in contact with Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park and Hawai‘i County Civil Defense.

Visit the national park website for visitor information.

The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory will continue to provide daily updates for Kīlauea volcano. Should volcanic activity change significantly, a new volcanic activity notice will be issued.