Kilauea Summit Update – 5/4/15

Following a 1:20 p.m. explosion within its lava lake Saturday, Kilauea summit remained continuously active throughout the weekend.

Between Sunday and Monday mornings, the summit area showed a slight inflationary tilt, according to Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. In addition, the lave lake filled to the rim of the Overlook crater but has not overflow, onto the floor of Halema’uma’u Crater since Saturday.

HVO officials say the lava lake was measured at 3 yards above the original floor of Halema’uma’u Crater on Sunday. However, an accumulation of recent overflows has built the rim of the Overlook Crater up several meters above the Halema’uma’u Crater.

On Sunday, a portion of the Halema’uma’u Crater wall fell into the Overlook crater lava lake, creating a small explosive event that flew fist-size clasts around the rim of Halema’uma’u Crater.

As of Monday morning, HVO reported that the lava level was close to the rim of the Overlook crater.

Seismic activity continues to remain elevated below the summit of Kilauea, as well as the East and Southwest Rift Zones. At 4:42 a.m. Monday. a 3.6 magnitude earthquake shook the upper East Rift Zone. According to Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, the earthquake was felt throughout Volcano Village.

Kilauea summit has had a sulfur dioxide emission rate average of 4400-5400 tonnes/day for the week ending on April 28.

HVO noted Monday that tiltmeter activity on the north flank of Puʻu ʻŌʻō has shown an increased inflationary tilt since Sunday. No additional changes were reported.

Puʻu ʻŌʻō has had a sulfur dioxide emission rate average of 700 tonnes/day when it was last measured on April 28.

June 27 lava flow activity also continues. HVO’s webcam image observation has indicated that surface flows northeast of Puʻu ʻŌʻō continue to persist. On April 23, when the area was last mapped, HVO made note that the most distant activity was occurring about 5 miles northeast of the Puʻu ʻŌʻō crater.