(BIVN) – The 30th episode of lava fountaining to occur at the summit of Kilauea since the eruption began on December 23, 2024, lasted for 12 hours on Wednesday, before ending abruptly just before 1 p.m.

Like the previous episode, Episode 30 did not produce the towering fountains seen earlier in the eruption. Today, lava reached heights up to 300 feet or 90 meters. However, the episode did include the emergence of a new vent that erupted for a couple of hours.

Precursory activity began on Monday, although very little could be seen from above the surface. On Tuesday morning, scientists with the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory spotted lava in the north vent during a helicopter overflight. The lava was 15 to 30 feet (5 to 10 meters) below the top of the vent, and was feeding a low volume into a lava tube.

Activity picked up just before 1 a.m. on Wednesday morning, and a new set of small lava fountains formed from a new vent to the south. The Observatory reported the new vent seemed to be associated with a cluster of small earthquakes just south of summit crater, and some ground deformation.

The new vent was active until 4:40 a.m.

USGS: “Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologists watched a spectacular sunrise over Kīlauea summit eruption episode 30 on the morning of August 6. Lava flows had covered about 60% of the Halemaʻumaʻu crater floor by that time.” (USGS photo by N. Deligne)

The episode came to an end at 12:55 p.m., at which time deflation switched to inflation, and seismic tremor decreased.

Tiltmeters recorded about 22.5 microradians of deflationary tilt during this episode.

No changes have been detected in the East Rift Zone or Southwest Rift Zone, and the USGS Volcano Alert Level remains at WATCH.