A lava flow within Kilauea Volcano’s Puu Oo crater has filled the crater floor, U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists reported Tuesday.
Scientists said multiple areas of incandescent outgassing were visible within the crater via a thermal web camera positioned along the crater’s edge. One of those areas of degassing, a vent located on the southeast side of the crater floor, produced a lava flow that recently filled the bottom of Puu Oo crater, scientists said. Janet Babb, a geologist with HVO, said that the lava flow within the crater resumed Tuesday morning.
“A new pulse began around 9:15 this morning and was still going (although it had slowed down a bit) at 10:34,” she said in an email to West Hawaii Today. She said the breakout of lava on the crater flow is the same as occurred between April 7 and 8 within the crater, however, the current breakout is “just a bit larger and more sustained than the small breakout on April 7-8.”
“As we said previously, this is not unusual behavior within the Puu Oo crater — it has been observed before and will likely be seen again,” she said in the email.
The tiltmeter, which is used to measure tiny changes in the slope angle or “tilt” of the ground, on the north flank of Puu Oo recorded no significant change in ground tilt.
Kilauea Volcano continued to host a lava lake at its summit, scientists said Tuesday. Tiltmeters positioned there did not record any significant change in ground tilt during the past couple of days. Summit seismic tremor continued with episodic bursts accompanying spattering and temporary drops in lava level, according to HVO.
Meanwhile, scientists, who continue to use webcams to observe the flow, said that three breakouts along the June 27 lava flow remain active within 4 miles of Puu Oo. Activity was noted at the Feb. 21 breakout on the northern flank of Puu Oo, the March 9 breakout near Puu Kahaualea and a forked breakout about 3 to 4 miles northeast of Puu Oo.
The U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory on March 25 downgraded its alert level for Kilauea Volcano from a “warning” to a “watch.”