(BIVN) – Precursory, low-level lava activity began Tuesday morning at Kīlauea volcano. The activity heralds the upcoming start of of episode 54 lava fountaining at the summit.
The USGS Volcano Alert Level for Kīlauea has been raised from ADVISORY to WATCH and the Aviation Color Code from YELLOW to ORANGE.
All activity is confined to the summit caldera within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, which partially reopened Monday following the passage of Tropical Storm Moke.
From the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory notice issued Tuesday morning:
Precursory low-level activity for episode 54 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption at the summit of Kīlauea began around 6:16 a.m. HST on August 25 with overflows from the north vent that are continuing at this time. This activity was preceded by the onset of weak spattering from the north vent around 7:30 p.m. HST yesterday evening, August 24. This was marked by the onset of strong, rhythmic gas pistoning spikes in tremor recorded every 5-10 minutes. Glow from the vents continued to increase until after midnight, spattering from the north vent become nearly continuous. Bright glow and flames from the west vent correlate with the tremor spikes and appear to be related to the drainback cycle of gas pistoning.
Accordingly, HVO is raising the Alert Level for Kīlauea from ADVISORY to WATCH and the Aviation Color Code from YELLOW to ORANGE. Alert level and aviation color code definitions.
This low-level precursory activity can continue for hours to days before the lava fountaining episode beings. Inflationary tilt on the UWD tiltmeter continues and has exceed the deflation recorded during episode 53 by over one microradian. The forecast for episode 54 of lava fountaining to start is between August 25-26, with the onset most likely in the next 12 hours. Another VAN will be published when lava fountaining episode 54 begins.
