HVO: Kilauea lava lake rises to more than 500 feet

As of about 8 a.m. this morning, the lava lake inside Halema‘uma‘u crater in Kilauea volcano has risen to 515 feet, according to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

The surface of the lake was 1,522 feet below the crater rim observation side.

The observations from this morning indicate the lake rose 75 feet in just over 24 hours, HVO said. The current depth is more than triple the depth of the water lake that was in the crater until the evening of Dec. 20, when it was vaporized.

Fountaining continues at two locations, more vigorously at eastern vent.

As of yesterday afternoon, the approximate volume of the lava lake was 2.7 billion gallons.

The east-west length of the lake was 750 yards, or the equivalent of about 7.5 football fields.