Kilauea Volcano, Hawai’i: current activity and eruption update

Here’s an update on the Kilaueau Volcano from Volcano Discovery as of May 8th. Please join us on one of our volcano tours to see the beautiful power of the Kilauea Volcano.

New short-lived lava oozed out from western vent today

The effusive activity within Halemaʻumaʻu crater continues at stable levels. The lava continued to effuse over the past 24 hours near the northwestern margin of the crater floor at reduced levels compared to previous days.
A new lava flow started to spill out from the western fissure vent onto the crater floor around 07:00 local time this morning, but it seems to have stopped already.
Prior the flat ground deformation values yesterday morning, a brief deflation-inflation phase has been registered in the afternoon and evening.
Sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions reached to a 2600 tonnes/day on may 4th.
The Hawaiʻian Volcano Observatory reported that the crater floor had seen a total rise of about 99 meters (325 feet) and that 66 million cubic meters (18 billion gallons) of lava had been effused since the beginning of this eruption on September 29, 2021.
Source: Hawaiʻian Volcano Observatory volcano activity update 7 May 2022

Effusive eruption remains active with sporadic breakouts

The effusive activity within Halemaʻumaʻu crater continues.
This scenario seems to continue further as indicate the current data, there are no signs to cease the eruption so far.
The lava spattering within the western fissure vent continues to feed the lava flowing into the active lava lake.
Sporadic breakouts continue along the margins of the crater to the north, northeast and south.
Tilt is currently on a inflationary trend, but fluctuated a lot with periods of deflation-inflation on 20 April.
The volcanic tremor remains above background levels, though is reduced due to the deflationary tilt trend.
Source: Hawaiʻian Volcano Observatory volcano activity update 22 April 2022

Lava lake remains active

The summit eruption at the lava lake within Halemaʻumaʻu crater continues with no significant changes, the volcano observatory reported: “Surface activity continues in the active lava lake, and lava is flowing on the crater floor from the west vent region.
“In addition, lava is flowing from breakouts along the margins of the crater: north to the northeast, and a smaller one to the south. Tilt is currently on a flat trend. Lava will likely be on the surface of the active lava lake this evening.”
Source: HVO / USGS

Kilauea volcano (Hawai’i): M 4.3 and 4.6 earthquakes today

The HVO’s seismic station recorded two earthquakes with a maximum magnitude of a 4.3 and 4.6 at 01:58 local time last night.
The first M 4.3 quake was widely felt on the Island of Hawai’i and with a depth of 34 km located about 8 km NE of Pāhala, followed 8 seconds later by another, stronger magnitude-4.6 quake at 32 km depth located 9 km NE of Pāhala, slightly SE of the 1st earthquake.
The HVO reports: “These earthquakes had no apparent effect on Kīlauea or Mauna Loa volcanoes and appear to be part of the seismic swarm under the Pāhala area, which has been going on since 2019. Earthquakes in this region have been observed at least as far back as the 1960s.”

lava returned to crater

The effusive eruption within Halemaʻumaʻu crater continues again.
The lava flow continues to spill out on the crater floor from the western fissure vent and along the eastern rim of the crater.
Tilt is currently on a flat trend.

Deflation turned back to inflation today

After the steep deflation process at the summit of the volcano yesterday, electronic tilt monitoring registered an inflation trend since this morning.
According to the HVO volcano observatory, the lava is expected to appear on the lava lake’s surface this evening.