USGS summit webcam

(BIVN) – A Kilauea summit earthquake that was not a collapse event triggered an alert just after midnight. Hawaii County Civil Defense initially reported the temblor as a collapse event at Halemaumau Crater with energy equal to a 4.5 magnitude earthquake. The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory followed up with a short message saying the earthquake was not a collapse event, and added that summit seismicity remained high and “a collapse event is likely to occur later today.”

UPDATE: The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reports a collapse event has occurred at Halema`uma`u crater at 8:00 a.m. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center reports its energy equal to a 5.4 magnitude earthquake.

According to a morning update from Hawaii County Civil Defense, field crews report no lava overflows nor spillovers occurring locally along the Fissure 8 channel, which continues to send lava flowing into the ocean at Ahalanui.

Yesterday’s flyover reports the margin of the flow remains approximately 500 feet from the Pohoiki Boat Ramp at Isaac Hale Park. We are awaiting observations made this morning.

UPDATE: The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory posted this update on Pohoiki and the lava ocean entry at 10:17 a.m. HST:

At the coast, the south edge of the lava flow has not advanced westward in the past day, and remains less than 175 m (0.1 mi) from the Pohoiki boat ramp in Isaac Hale Park. Lava along the south edge of the flow was oozing more to the east but there were a few ooze-outs to the west that were distant from the coast and not directly threatening Pohoiki. Lava is actively entering the ocean along a broad 2 km (1.2 mi) flow front centered near the former Ahalanui Beach Park with a more minor entry building a pointed delta near the south edge of the flow.

“No overflows were reported this morning and lava levels in the more distant portions of the channel system appear low,” USGS said. It remains to be seen if a collapse event at 7:59 a.m. will result in a surge in the lava effusion rate at Fissure 8, as it has following previous summit collapse events.

State Highways reports no new cracks on Highway 11.

The Disaster Recovery Center operation hours at the Pahoa Community Center is 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.

(USGS) Pulses of lava from the fissure 8 vent sometimes occur every few minutes. These photographs, taken over a period of about 4 minutes, show the changes that occur during these pulses. Initially, lava within the channel is almost out of sight. A pulse in the system then creates a banked lava flow that throws spatter (fragments of molten lava) onto the channel margin. After the third photo was taken, the lava level again decreased to nearly out of sight.