Kilauea volcano stops erupting after 5 months
COURTESY U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
During an eruption monitoring shift on Tuesday, HVO field crews did not observe any active surface lava or incandescent areas within Halema‘uma‘u crater, at the summit of Kilauea. Since the eruption began on Dec. 20, over 40 million cubic meters (over 10 billion gallons) of lava has been erupted. This volume is approximately 16 times the volume of the Great Pyramid of Giza.
COURTESY U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
An overview of the lava lake within Halema‘uma‘u crater, at Kilauea Volcano’s summit, taken on Monday. Kilauea’s summit collapse in 2018 deepened Halema‘uma‘u crater by over 500 meters (1640 feet). The eruption that began the evening of Dec. 20 has filled approximately 229 m (751 ft) of the base of Halema‘uma‘u crater, which is more than the height of the Space Needle in Seattle, Washington.
The eruption of Kilauea Volcano on Hawaii island has paused after more than five months, the U.S. Geological Survey said today.
The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory first saw a glow within the volcano’s Halemaumau crater on Dec. 20.
Three vents in the crater initially deposited lava into a lake, eventually adding over 40 million cubic meters of lava. The crusted-over lava lake has been measured at 751 feet deep and hasn’t changed since May 11.
HVO crews did not observe any signs of lake activity on Tuesday and reported no signs of active surface lava. No active lava has been observed in the last 48 hours, and there is no visible glow at the volcano at night.
The National Park Service said that it is possible that the Halemaumau vent “could resume eruption or that Kilauea is entering a period of quiescence prior to the next eruption.”
