Two new lava flows from Puu Oo remained active Sunday, while the lava lake at the summit of Kilauea Volcano continued to spatter.
Lava flow breakouts from the north and east flanks of Puu Oo began Tuesday, and spatter cones within the Puu Oo crater are glowing steadily, according to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.
In addition to the new lava flows, surface activity on the so-called June 27 flow field appears to continue, with small breakouts scattered northeast of Puu Oo over the past several months. Most recent satellite images and aerial observations show that the active breakouts extend about 3 miles northeast of Puu Oo.
The flows are not currently threatening any communities.
At the summit the lava lake within Halemaumau fire pit has remained fairly level in recent days, about 130 feet below the crater floor, the observatory said.
Earlier last week the lake level rose to about 80 feet below the crater floor, and spattering was visible from the Jaggar Museum overlook.
The U.S. Geological Survey released video taken at Halemaumau on Thursday that shows spattering, caused by gas bubbles bursting on the surface of the lava lake, sending lava particles up to 80 feet in the air.
Kilauea’s ongoing Puu Oo eruption, which began in January 1983, ranks as the most voluminous outpouring of lava from the volcano’s East Rift Zone in the past five centuries, according to the USGS, which runs the observatory. Lava flows have also destroyed 214 structures and buried nearly 9 miles of highway under as much as 115 feet of lava.
The June 27 flow, named for the date it began in 2014, threatened the town of Pahoa in the ensuing months but stalled just outside town.