(BIVN) – The eruption at the summit of Kīlauea continued throughout the day on Saturday, with the onset of more vigorous lava fountaining at around 6 p.m. HST. 

The USGS Alert Level for Kīlauea remains at WATCH.

All current and recent activity is within confined to the summit caldera within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. No changes have been detected in the East Rift Zone or Southwest Rift Zone, scientists say.

From the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory: 

Lava began erupting sluggishly from vents around 8 a.m. on Thursday December 26 marking the beginning of the third phase of the ongoing summit eruption. Small, slow moving lava flows continued to erupt but travelled only short distances from the northern vents for the next day and a half (see Kīlauea Daily Update for more information). The sluggish, low effusion rate eruptive activity over the past 2.5 days marks the third eruptive episode and has lasted much longer than the 3-4 hours of sluggish eruption that preceded the fountaining of the second episode. Fountaining from the southern active vent began to increase and become more continuous around 5:15 p.m. with spatter rising to 60-100 ft (20-30 m) high, mainly from the more southerly of the two active vents. By 6:00 p.m., the increased amount of lava erupted has now covered about twenty percent of the floor of Halemaʻumaʻu.

Deflation in the south caldera area began around 1 p.m. today and is continuing. The tiltmeter at Uēkahuna continued to record inflation beneath Halemaʻumaʻu until 3 p.m. when it flattened out. Tremor has been gradually increasing over the past two days, but is still relatively low compared to the first two episodes of vigorous high fountains (>250 feet or 80 meters). In the two previous episodes, deflation began at the same time beneath Halemaʻumaʻu and the south caldera region.

If fountaining continues, it is possible that the fountain heights will increase as more gas-rich lava erupted. It is not possible to estimate how high the fountains may get or how long the fountaining will last, but prior episodes have produced fountains over 200 feet high (70 m) that last up to 24 hours.