The lava lake in Halemaumau Crater dropped and was barely visible Tuesday morning from the Jaggar Museum overlook.

Scientists at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reported a deflationary trend at Kilauea’s summit. Lava generally rises as the volcano inflates and falls during deflationary periods.

The deflation at Kilauea began Sunday and the lava lake dropped about 10 yards below its rim on Monday and receded further Tuesday.

The drop in the lava lake level was accompanied by a higher frequency of earthquakes in the upper Southwest Rift Zone, including a magnitude 3.1 event at 3:40 p.m. Monday.

On Tuesday, a magnitude 2.6 quake shook Volcano at about 1:30 p.m. It was centered about 3 miles southwest of Volcano at a depth of less than a mile.

On Saturday night, two magnitude 3 earthquakes were recorded in the upper East Rift Zone. Several aftershocks of the magnitude 4.5 earthquake north of Naalehu Saturday morning were also recorded on Sunday.

Earthquakes can be an indication of lava movement.

For about the last 3 weeks, during a period of inflation, the lava lake level rose to the crater rim and overflowed onto the crater floor.

The lava covered about 28 acres of Halemaumau Crater floor since the lake began overflowing earlier this month.

The sight of lava in Halemaumau, last visible from the crater rim in 1974, has drawn crowds of visitors to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, especially at night.

Some lava leaked onto the crater floor of Puu Oo monday morning and webcam views overnight suggest lava is in a collapsed pit west of the main crater.

Surface lava flows remain active northeast of the Puu Oo. Most of the surface lava is less than two miles from the vent, with the furthest flow about five miles northeast of the crater, far from populated areas. 

Lava from Puu Oo approached the outskirts of Pahoa in September, but the flows stopped in March.