(BIVN) – The ongoing eruption at the summit of Kīlauea volcano remains paused, although strong glow – with some minor gas jetting and lava spattering – was visible at the summit vent overnight.

The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reported summit inflation was relatively minor in the last 24 hours. However, strong vent glow and spatter indicates that magma is high in the vent, the scientists say.

The next high fountain episode, Episode 36, is still most likely to occur between November 4th and November 8th. “Fluctuating inflation rates make it difficult to narrow the forecast window more at this time,” the Observatory says.

From the Sunday morning USGS HVO summit observations:

The north and south vents had moderate to strong glow and minor periods of spattering overnight and into the early morning. Plumes of gas were observed at both vents concurrent with strong periods of glow, indicating shallowing of magma in the conduit. One larger gas jetting and spattering event was observed at north vent at 1:08 am HST. (Note: All of the cameras were zoomed in on the vents last night and the infrared filters were turned off on the V2 and V3 making them appear much brighter and white in color.)

The summit continues to inflate. The Uēkahuna tiltmeter (UWD) has recorded approximately 0.5 microradian of inflationary tilt over the past 24 hours and 23.3 microradians of inflationary tilt since the end of episode 35. Tremor patterns consisted of continuous tremor with occasional bursts of stronger tremor signal overnight. These sharp spikes in tremor accompanied the strongest periods of glow and degassing, inferred to represent shallowing of magma in the conduit.

Plumes of gas continue from both vents this morning and sulfur dioxide (SO2) gas emissions remain at background levels, typically between 1,200 and 1,500 tonnes per day.

Episode 35 lava fountains began at approximately 8:05 p.m. HST on October 17 and ended at 3:32 a.m. HST on October 18. South vent fountains reached heights of nearly 1,500 feet (460 meters) and north vent fountains reached heights of about 1,100 feet (330 meters). These were the highest single fountain and highest pair of fountains seen during this eruption so far. Episode 35 fountains produced an estimated 13 million cubic yards (10 million cubic meters) of lava. The combined average eruption rate was over 500 cubic yards per second (400 cubic meters per second) from the dual fountains. Lava flows from the fountains covered about two thirds of the floor of Halemaʻumaʻu crater.