Inflation at Kilauea « The Volcanism Blog

Inflation at Kilauea 1 July 2008

Posted by volcanism in Hawaii, Kilauea, United States, activity reports, eruptions.
Tags: Hawaii, Kilauea, volcanic activity reports, volcanic eruptions
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Kilauea is inflating. The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory’s tiltmeter network has been reporting variable levels of inflation at the summit of the volcano since 27 June. Yesterday, 30 June, the HVO reported that ‘Both Kilauea summit and Pu`u `O`o Cone are inflating. The inflation is accompanied by increased ash production, increased amplitude of seismic tremor bursts, and increased intensity of vent incandescence at the summit’. The fact that the inflation seems to be becoming steadier rather than episodic, and is accompanied by increased tremor and incandescence, suggests the ascent of fresh magma is under way (although at the beginning of this year the ascent of magma within Kilauea took place during a period when the volcano was deflating: Kilauea is full of surprises).

Detailed information on volcanic deformation at Kilauea can be found here: Kilauea deformation. From this source comes the graph below, which shows the tiltmeter data for Pu’u O’o Cone (’POC’) and for Uwekahuna (’UWE’) on the north-western rim of Kilauea crater, for the period 24-30 June.

The general situation at Kilauea is that the Halema’uma’u vent is continuing to produce elevated amounts of sulphur dioxide (the most recent measurements, on 26 June, found the rate to be approximately 900 tonnes per day, as against a normal background rate of 100-150 tonnes per day), and Pu’u O’o crater is also releasing sulphur dioxide. Lava continues to flow to the ocean through the volcanic feature with the name that sounds like a prison movie, the Thanksgiving Eve Breakout.

The HVO has some good images of volcanic activity at and around Kilauea, including the following pictures of a fine littoral explosion at the Waikupanaha ocean entry, caused by the reaction between hot lava and cold seawater. Clicking on the images will take you to the source page, where these pictures were posted on 30 June 2008.