Lava rises to about 7 feet below Halemaumau Crater floor
This is a view of spattering at the east corner of the lava lake Sunday morning.
This photo, taken at mid-day Saturday, shows the lava lake from the west side of Halemaumau when the lake was about 33 feet below the crater floor.
This Sunday photo shows the lava lake in the Overlook crater when it reached to within 10 feet of the floor of Halemaumau.
This Sunday photo gives another view of spattering lava.
This photo shows a different angle on the lava lake when it was at its highest level Sunday.
The lava lake at Kilauea rose slightly overnight and was about 7 feet below the floor of Halemaumau Crater Monday morning.
Visitors have crowded the Jaggar Museum Observatory, especially at dusk, since the lake began rising last week.
The lava is at its highest point since the lake formed in 2008.
Geologists said the rise in the lava coincides with inflation at the summit, which continued Monday.
Pieces of crater wall falling into the rising lava lake in Halemaumau crater triggered two explosions at about 2 a.m. Saturday, sending gobs of lava to the crater rim and dusting the Jaggar Museum area with sand-sized ash.
Geologists said crater wall collapses are common and since the lava lake formed, it has widened as more piece of crater wall fall into the lava. The elliptical crater is about 520 feet wide and 690 feet wide and the lava level rises and falls with inflation and deflation periods at Kilauea, from its current level to about 650 below the floor of Halemaumau.
In the last two years, the laval level has typically ranged from between 100 to 200 feet below the Halemaumau Crater floor.
Observatory scientists have been releasing new pictures daily and also released a video taken Friday, when the lava level was about 46 feet below its crater rim.
