A breakout from the June 27 lava flow located about 3 to 4 miles northeast of Kilauea Volcano’s Puu Oo vent is showing increased signs of activity, the U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said Monday morning.
Scientists, who used webcams to assess the flow, said Monday that the breakout is among three sites, including the Feb. 21 breakout, which remains active on the northern flank of Puu Oo, and the March 9 breakout near Puu Kahaualea that has traveled about 1.2 mile toward the north during the past month.
There are no other areas of breakouts along the June 27 flow field located within Kilauea Volcano’s East Rift Zone, scientists said. All downslope areas remained quiet.
Meanwhile, tiltmeters positioned at Kilauea’s summit continued to record modest inflation — about 2 microradian per day since April 1. Tiltmeters are used to measure tiny changes in the slope angle or “tilt” of the ground.
Kilauea’s summit began inflating April 1 after appearing to have entered a deflation-inflation cycle that commenced March 30. During inflation, magma rises into the summit reservoir, according to the observatory. The summit reservoir enters the deflation portion of the cycle when the magma moves laterally into a rift zone and either erupts or is stored there.
The summit lava lake level has rose about 30 feet since April 1, scientists said.
Summit tremor resumed episodic bursts this past weekend suggesting that spattering resumed being episodic rather than continuous, scientists said. Earthquake activity also increased slightly about 1.2 mile south of Halemaumau Crater during the past few days.
The tiltmeter on the north flank of Puu Oo recorded minor variations.
The U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory on March 25 downgraded its alert level for Kilauea Volcano from a warning to a watch.
The observatory said the decision to lower the alert level from “warning” to “watch” was made because the lava flow nearest to the town of Pahoa has remained inactive. Hawaii County Civil Defense on March 28 suspended its daily eruption and lava flow updates.