The breakout that began early last week remains active. On a Monday (Sept 10) overflight, a broad area of active pahoehoe flows was mapped, with the farthest makai lobe (lower left) just touching the top of Royal Gardens subdivision, near the buried intersection of Warrior and `Ekaha streets. When these flows began last week there were two separate breakouts, but the western breakout is now inactive. In the bottom center of this thermal image there is a faint line of elevated temperatures representing the recent lava tube. Photo courtesy of USGS/HVO

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Time-lapse thermal image movie of Halemaumau Overlook Vent

(Activity updates are written by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.)

Kilauea activity update

A lava lake within the Halema`uma`u Overlook vent produced night-time glow that was visible from the Jaggar Museum overlook and by HVO’s Webcam during the past week. The lava level fluctuated slightly due to several deflation-inflation (DI) cycles at the summit and several brief gas-driven rise-fall cycles.

On Kilauea’s east rift zone, surface lava flows remain active above the pali, near the top of the abandoned Royal Gardens subdivision, about 5.5 km (3.4 miles) southeast of Pu`u `O`o. The lava pond in the northeastern pit in Pu`u `O`o crater was visible in the Webcam over the past week, with the level fluctuating slightly due to the deflation-inflation cycles. Small amounts of lava were also visible in the southern pit on the crater floor.

One felt earthquake was reported in the last week on the Island of Hawai`i. A magnitude-3.0 earthquake occurred at 4:23 a.m., HST, on Tuesday, September 11, 2012, and was located 5 km (3 mi) south of Volcano at a depth of 3 km (2 mi).

Visit the HVO Web site (http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov) for detailed Kilauea, Mauna Loa, and Hualalai activity updates, recent volcano photos, recent earthquakes, and more; call (808) 967-8862 for a Kilauea summary; email questions to askHVO@usgs.gov

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Time-lapse movie of the Peace Day Flow via the coastal plain webcams

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Time-lapse movie of Pu‘u ‘O‘o Crater