The lava lake atop Kilauea spilled over the rim of Overlook Crater and onto the floor of Halemaʻumaʻu Crater during several incidents last night and this morning, according to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.
The lava lake atop Kilauea spilled over the rim of Overlook Crater and onto the floor of Halemaʻumaʻu Crater during several incidents last night and this morning, according to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.
It marks the first time the floor of Halemaʻumaʻu has seen lava since 1982.
“At 9:40 p.m. last night, a very small, brief overflow occurred onto the floor of Halemaʻumaʻu Crater,” HVO wrote in an update this morning. “A larger overflow occurred at 2am this morning, sending lava a short distance onto the floor of Halemaʻumaʻu Crater, and another overflow is occurring this morning around 8 a.m.”
In 1982, a small puddle reached the bottom following an eruption from a 0.6-mile long fissure that cut across the Kilauea caldera floor northwest of the crater.
The overflow events come in the wake of a large explosion Tuesday morning, the result of a rock wall collapsing into the lava lake.
Inflation continued at the summit of Kilauea Volcano over the past day. Seismicity beneath the summit and the upper East and Southwest Rift Zones remains elevated, according to HVO.