Fluctuations cause lava lake in Kilauea to drop by 40 feet

The lava lake in Kilauea’s Halemaumau Crater dropped more than 40 feet between Thursday and Friday as normal fluctuation continued in response to cyclical deflation-inflation activity at the volcano’s summit area.

According to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, instruments at the summit recorded continued deflation followed by an inflationary trend late Friday evening. As of Saturday morning, the lava lake was about 225 feet below the floor of Halemaumau.

Since it first formed, the lava lake has widened as pieces of the crater wall have collapsed. The elliptical crater is about 520 feet wide and 690 feet long, and the lava level rises and falls from as high as the lip of the rim to as low as 650 feet below.

At the Puu Oo cone, gas continued to be emitted from vents within the crater. An observation flight on Friday found no evidence of changes in the crater vents.

Meanwhile, the East Rift Zone lava flow northeast of Puu Oo remains active, the observatory reported. An overflight on Friday morn-ing found scattered surface flow activity within 5 miles of Puu Oo, with the most active area appearing along the north margin of the so-called June 27th flow field.

Webcam images captured continued activity on Saturday. Smoke plumes indicate where lava has been creeping into the surrounding forest.

The observatory reported normal seismic activity overall at the volcano.

The flows are not threatening any communities.

A year ago, the June 27th lava flow, named for the date in 2014 that it began erupting from Puu Oo, was considered by U.S. Geological Survey scientists to be an imminent threat to Kaohe Homesteads in the Puna District. But the flow petered out.