(BIVN) – The Volcano Alert Level for Kīlauea has been raised from ADVISORY to WATCH, and the Aviation Color Code from YELLOW to ORANGE, as precursory lava activity leading to episode 56 has begun.
A large lava flow was observed at the north vent within Halemaʻumaʻu at the summit of Kilauea at 11:43 a.m. HST. High lava fountains are expected to occur at anytime between this afternoon to November 7.
From the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory’s Volcanic Activity Notice issued at 2:06 p.m. on Monday afternoon:
The initial rise of lava to the surface and overflow was passive with no spattering or low dome fountaining, indicating the magma was highly degassed. Minor spatter then began in the vent at about 12:30 p.m. HST. Drainback accompanied by vigorous spattering began at 12:45 p.m. HST and ended the initial overflow. Several minutes of vigorous spattering accompanied the rise of lava again within the north vent and preceded the onset of the second overflow at 1:00 p.m. HST. Once lava reached the surface and began overflowing the vent, spattering became subdued with minor spatter bursts less than 3 feet (1 meter) high on the lava pond surface.
Scientists say this low-level precursory activity can continue for hours to days before the lava fountaining episode beings.
