(BIVN) – The summit eruption of Kīlauea Volcano is once again paused, continuing the off-and-on lava effusion activity at Halemaʻumaʻu crater within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.

From the Tuesday morning update from the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory:

Halemaʻumaʻu Lava Lake Observations: Eruption of lava from the western vent into the active lava lake within Halemaʻumaʻu crater has diminished and paused since approximately 1:30 am HST this morning. Short-lived minor flows of active lava continued to erupt from the west vent and flows to the south, west, and into the western lava lake early this morning and have since ceased. There were few to no ooze outs along the margins of the crater floor over the past 24 hours. The active lava lake surface of Halemaʻumaʻu crater has dropped approximately 10 meters (33 feet) over the last 24 hours. This pause in effusive activity corresponds with a drop in tilt and a decrease in tremor at the summit The highest point on the Halemaʻumaʻu crater floor has risen approximately 96 meters (315 feet) since the eruption began on September 29, 2021. The erupted volume is 45 million cubic meters (59 million cubic yards) of lava as measured on January 25, 2021.

Summit Observations: At approximately 5:00 am HST yesterday, summit tilt started a steep inflationary trend with a total increase of approximately 1.6 microradians which began to slow around 10 am HST yesterday and now remains steady with a gradual deflationary trend. Seismic data shows that the volcanic tremor signal increased at approximately 9:30 am HST yesterday and currently remains elevated and steady. Earthquake activity at the summit remains below background levels. A sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission rate of approximately ~2500 tonnes per day (t/d) was measured on February 25.

The USGS HVO continues to closely monitor Kīlauea volcano, which remains at an alert level of WATCH.