UPDATE – (10:25 a.m. HST) – Episode 17 ended at 9:45 am HST on Wednesday (April 9) after 35.5 hours of eruption.

The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reported this morning that sustained low fountains began about 6 hours after the onset of lava flows yesterday. The fountains averaged about 100 feet high with peak burst heights of about 200 feet on Tuesday. The episode never reached the high fountain phase seen in previous episodes.

The USGS Volcano Alert Level for Kīlauea remains at WATCH.

USGS: “In the afternoon of April 8, USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologists visited the western rim of Halemaʻumaʻu crater to observe the ongoing Kīlauea summit eruption during its seventeenth episode. This telephoto view of the geologists shows them taking laser rangefinder measurements of lava fountains at the active eruptive vent below them within the crater.” (USGS photo by M. Zoeller)

(BIVN) – Episode 17 in the ongoing Kīlauea summit eruption continued on Wednesday.

The eruptive episode that began on Monday night has, thus far, consisted of low level fountaining and lava flows on the crater floor. It is possible Episode 17 will not produce the high lava fountains that characterized previous episodes.

“The onset of episode 17 occurred earlier than forecast, as the fountaining began prior to the tilt rebounding to the expected threshold that had been previously associated with episode onsets,” the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory wrote on Tuesday. “Slow deflation accompanied the onset of the eruption, and it is unclear if episode 17 will produce high lava fountains.”

No significant activity has been noted along Kīlauea’s East Rift Zone or Southwest Rift Zone, and the USGS Volcano Alert Level remains at WATCH.