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Kilauea lava lake level rising again

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U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY / HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY

Kilauea’s summit lava lake rose to within about 16 feet of the floor of Halemaumau Crater Saturday morning, before dropping back down.

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U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY / HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY

This view of the lava lake at the summit of Kilauea on Saturday is from the north rim.

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U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY / HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY

Lava spatters at the south edge of the lava lake at Halemaumau Crater Saturday. Note the black high-lava mark on the lake wall.

The lava lake level at Kilauea is rising again after fluctuating over the weekend and reaching its highest levels since lava overflowed onto the Halemaumau Crater floor in May of last year.

On Saturday, the lava lake level rose to 16 feet below the crater floor, before dropping to about 44 feet below the floor later Saturday and 66 feet below the floor on Sunday. The lake level began rising again early this morning to about 61 feet below the floor of Halemaumau Crater.

The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory released new video and photos of the eruption over the weekend.

The lava spattering is visible from the crater overlook at the Jaggar Museum.

A series of small earthquakes near the summit on Saturday is believed to be related to the rising lava lake levels.

In addition, a magnitude 3.4 earthquake struck this morning near Mauna Loa. Over the weekend, a magnitude 3.2 earthuake on Saturday and magnitude 3.0 earthquake on Sunday were recorded in the upper East Rift Zone. Earthquakes in that area are usually related to the movement of magma.

One response to “Kilauea lava lake level rising again”

  1. CEI says:

    Absolutely amazing. Wish I was there to see it.

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