(BIVN) – On Wednesday night at the Pahoa High School cafeteria, the Puna community received another update on the status of Kilauea Volcano.
USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientist Frank Trusdell started off the public meeting with a brief update on on the lower East Rift Zone activity. This week, Fissure 8 in Leilani Estates showed renewed signs of activity, filling the crater floor with lava and weak spattering.
Recently, scientists noted a 10 to 13 ft. cone had formed as lava erupted from an opening on the surface of the flow that covers the crater floor. On Wednesday morning, bits of molten lava emitted from the cone every few seconds.
“And today there was still lava in the crater, and its very low levels of activity,” Trusdell told the crowd before ending his talk. “So, is the eruption over? Not yet,” he said.
Seismicity still remains low and ground deformation is negligible at the summit of Kīlauea Volcano. Sulfur dioxide emission rates at the summit, Puʻu ʻŌʻō, and LERZ are still drastically reduced, although SO2 emission rate measurements from LERZ vents were slightly higher than those measured in the past week, USGS says.
UPDATE: On Thursday morning, the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory posted this update:
On Kīlauea Volcano’s lower East Rift Zone (LERZ), a small amount of incandescence was visible from the fissure 8 cone for a brief period overnight. Small lava flows have been observed within the fissure 8 cone, however none extend outside the walls of the cone. There is no change in overall activity from observations over the past several days.
Seismicity and ground deformation remain low at the summit of Kīlauea Volcano. Earthquakes activity continues on faults located on Kīlauea’s South Flank; these are aftershocks of the magnitude-6.9 earthquake in early May.
Tiltmeters in Kīlauea’s middle East Rift Zone have recorded small amounts of inflationary tilt, which may be a sign of refilling of the rift zone. The current rates are much smaller than those measured during the period of major eruptive activity and are not changing rapidly.
by Big Island Video News12:54 am
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STORY SUMMARY
HAWAII ISLAND - Recently, scientists noted a 10 to 13 ft. cone had formed in Fissure 8, as lava erupted from the crater floor.