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Volcano Watch: Kilauea activity update for May 7, 2015

The lava lake in the Overlook crater, within Halemaʻumaʻu Crater at Kīlauea's summit, remains at a high level and close to the Overlook crater rim. Overflows onto the Halemaʻumaʻu Crater floor have built up the rim of the Overlook crater several meters, and recent overflows are visible in the right side of the photograph. The lake level this afternoon was about 7 meters (yards) above the original (pre-overflow) floor of Halemaʻumaʻu Crater. Spattering was vigorous today in the southern portion of the lake. From this view, the spattering was hidden behind a portion of the Halemaʻumaʻu Crater wall, but airborne spatter can be seen in the bottom left portion of the photo. The summit of Mauna Loa can be seen in the upper right. Photo taken Thursday, May 7, 2015 courtesy of USGS/HVO

The lava lake in the Overlook crater, within HalemaÊ»umaÊ»u Crater at KÄ«lauea’s summit, remains at a high level and close to the Overlook crater rim. Overflows onto the HalemaÊ»umaÊ»u Crater floor have built up the rim of the Overlook crater several meters, and recent overflows are visible in the right side of the photograph. The lake level this afternoon was about 7 meters (yards) above the original (pre-overflow) floor of HalemaÊ»umaÊ»u Crater. Spattering was vigorous today in the southern portion of the lake. From this view, the spattering was hidden behind a portion of the HalemaÊ»umaÊ»u Crater wall, but airborne spatter can be seen in the bottom left portion of the photo. The summit of Mauna Loa can be seen in the upper right. Photo taken Thursday, May 7, 2015 courtesy of USGS/HVO


Time-lapse movie of Halemaumau Overlook Vent. April 30-May 7, 2015. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO


Time-lapse thermal image movie of Halemaumau Overlook Vent. April 30-May 7, 2015. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO


Time-lapse movie of Halemaʻumaʻu Overlook Vent from Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. April 30-May 7, 2015. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO


Time-lapse movie of Halemaumau Crater looking Southwest. April 30-May 7, 2015. Images courtesy of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park


Time-lapse movie of KÄ«lauea Caldera from Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. April 30-May 7, 2015. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO

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

KÄ«lauea’s summit lava lake was brimful throughout the week and occasionally overflowed onto the floor of Halema‘uma‘u Crater. A small explosive event on Sunday, May 3, threw spatter from the lava lake onto the rim of Halema‘uma‘u near the overlook and parking areas, which have been closed since 2008 due to ongoing and significant volcanic hazards there. Seismicity remains elevated beneath KÄ«lauea’s summit and the upper East and Southwest Rift Zones.

KÄ«lauea’s East Rift Zone lava flow continues to feed widespread breakouts northeast of PuÊ»u ʻŌʻō. The most distant active lava was about 8 km (5 mi) from PuÊ»u ʻŌʻō when mapped on Tuesday, May 5.

Four earthquakes were reported felt on the Island of Hawai‘i in the past week. On Friday, May 1, 2015, at 1:05 a.m., HST, a magnitude-2.6 earthquake occurred 3 km (1.9 mi) southeast of Pohoiki at a depth of 1.2 km (0.7 mi), and at 9:30 a.m., HST, a magnitude-3.2 earthquake occurred 4.9 km (3.1 mi) southwest of Volcano at a depth of 2.9 km (1.8 mi). On Monday, May 4, 2015, at 4:42 a.m., HST, a magnitude-3.6 earthquake occurred 5.1 km (3.2 mi) southwest of Volcano at a depth of 3.0 km (1.9 mi), and at 9:28 p.m., HST, a magnitude-2.5 earthquake occurred 4.8 km (3.0 mi) northwest of Captain Cook at a depth of 10.4 km (6.5 mi).


Time-lapse movie from images gathered from a temporary thermal camera looking into Pu’u ‘O’o Crater. The temperature scale is in degrees Celsius up to a maximum of 500 Celsius (932 Fahrenheit) for this camera model, and scales based on the maximum and minimum temperatures within the frame. Thick fume, image pixel size and other factors often result in image temperatures being lower than actual surface temperatures. April 30-May 7, 2015. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO


Time-lapse movie of Pu’u ‘O’o Crater North Flank from the North Rim. April 30-May 7, 2015. Images courtesy of USGS/HVO

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