The lava lake on the floor of Kilauea Volcano’s Halemaumau Crater dropped again Saturday, a week after the lake rose to its highest level since overflowing into the crater’s floor in May 2015.
On Saturday morning, the surface of the lake, located in a vent in the floor, was 92 feet below the bottom of the crater, and had fluctuated the day before due to spattering, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reported.
The plunging lava level set off several collapses of solidified lava that had adhered to the vent walls, the observatory noted.
A week before, the lava lake had climbed to 16 to 20 feet below the crater floor.
Over the past week the lake has fluctuated, dropping to 66 feet below the crater floor, then rising at one point to 36 feet below. On Friday, the lake was 59 feet below the floor; its lowest level this month was 130 feet below the crater bottom on Sept. 1.
Meanwhile, lava continued flowing into the ocean Saturday near Kamokuna on the southern flank of Kilauea.
The Puu Oo-fed flow extends to the southeast and has been entering the ocean for about eight weeks. The volcano observatory reported new breakouts about 1.2 miles from the coast. The flow is not posing any threats to nearby communities.
The observatory warned those viewing the ocean entry about collapsing deltas, which can send tens of acres of newly formed land into the sea. The observatory also warned about “laze” plume, or lava haze — a billowing white cloud composed of hydrochloric acid gas and tiny shards of volcanic glass that is created when molten lava at about 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit comes into contact with seawater.
Visitors should avoid this plume, which can cause skin and eye irritation and make breathing difficult, the observatory said.
