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Observatory posts video, photos of small explosions at Kilauea

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  • USGS / HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY

    A rockfall within the Overlook vent at the summit of Kilauea generated a small explosive event at 3:18 a.m. Monday in this webcam image. Incandescence from lava exposed by the disrupted lava lake surface lit up the vent wall and the night sky above Halemaumau Crater.

  • IGNORE

    USGS / HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY

    A breakout that began as a rupture from the tube supplying the June 27th lava flow continues to advance slowly to the northeast and has reached a forest about 1.9 miles from Puu Oo.

  • IGNORE

    USGS / HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY

    The breakout that began in late November continues to feed lava to the northern boundary of the flow field via a new lava tube. The trace of this new tube is visible in this Dec. 30 thermal image.

  • IGNORE

    USGS / HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY

    This aerial view of the lava lake in Halemaumau Crater at Kilauea’s summit shows spattering in the southeast portion of the lake on Dec. 30.

  • IGNORE

    USGS / HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY

    On January 2 at about 2:17 p.m., a rockfall from the east rim of the Overlook vent within Halemaumau Crater at the summit of Kīlauea impacted the lava lake, generated a small explosive event captured by HVO webcams

Rockfalls into the lava lake at Kilauea on Hawaii island triggered small explosions at the summit early Monday morning and Saturday.

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists reported that a small slice of the north wall of the Overlook vent over Halemaumau Crater collapsed into the lava lake, triggering a small explosive event at 3:18 a.m. Monday.

The volcano is going through a period of inflation, and the summit lake rose to about 100 feet below the floor of Halemaumau Crater.

On Saturday a rockfall from the east rim of the Overlook vent fell into the lava lake, generating another small explosive event captured by an observatory webcam at 2:17 p.m.

The observatory released video and photos of the recent events online at hvo.wr.usgs.gov/multimedia.

At Puu Oo, small lava flows erupted from a vent on the northeast side of the crater floor but remained in the crater.

Lava flows from Puu Oo extend about 4 miles northeast of the vent. The flows are burning some forest but are not threatening any populated communities.

Sunday marked the 33rd anniversary of the current eruption. The Puu Oo vent began spewing lava Jan. 3, 1983.

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