(BIVN) – The next episode in the ongoing eruption at the summit of Kīlauea is about to begin. 

Precursory eruptive activity was seen on Monday morning, as lava overflowed the vents within Halemaʻumaʻu crater within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. The USGS Volcano Alert Level for Kīlauea remains at WATCH. 

The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory issued the following in a status report on Monday morning:

Precursory eruptive activity for episode 30 of the Halemaʻumaʻu eruption began around 5:51 a.m. HST on Monday August 4 with short flows ending at 5:59 a.m. HST. Lava overflowed from the north vent at 5:51 a.m. HST and drained back with little spattering in the vent by 5:59 a.m. HST in a typical gas-pistoning cycle that produced short overflows. This had been preceded by an earlier gas-pistoning event with lava appearing at 5:14 a.m. HST and draining back with no lava flows and little spattering at 5:18 a.m. HST. It is unclear exactly when sustained eruptive activity may start, however, high lava fountaining is likely to begin today or tomorrow if summit inflation resumes. Tilt at the summit has been weakly deflating since 4:00 a.m. HST after rising overnight. According to the National Weather Service, winds are forecast to blow moderate trade winds from the north to northeast directions today, August 4th, which suggests that volcanic gas emissions and volcanic material may be distributed to the south and southwest.

USGS webcam image, captured on Monday morning, shows some lava activity at dawn

In recent episodes of the ongoing eruption within Halemaʻumaʻu, low-level precursory activity has lasted from a few hours to a few days. This activity can include eruptive vent spattering, small dome fountains, and lava overflows.

At the start of previous episodes, precursory activity has rapidly escalated into sustained high fountaining over minutes to tens of minutes. During previous episodes, fountains reached heights of more than 1,000 feet (300 meters) and the eruptive plume reached heights of up to 20,000 feet (6,000 meters) above ground level soon after sustained high fountaining began.

The tiltmeter at Uēkahuna (UWD) has recorded just under 18 microradians of inflationary tilt since the end of the last episode, during which it recorded 19 microradians of deflationary tilt. Low level seismic tremor continues beneath Halemaʻumaʻu crater.

The USGS HVO says a Volcanic Activity Notice will be issued “when sustained high lava fountaining begins, marking the start of episode 30, or earlier if the situation warrants a further update.”