Kīlauea Eruption Update: Lava Falls Persist, March 24, 2022

A persistent lava falls over the past four days highlights the minor changes in Kīlauea's summit eruption, as lava continues its long-term filling and swelling of the crusted lake within Halemaʻumaʻu crater. Visitors to Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park caught great viewing glimpsing the lava falls, as well as ooze-up flows with multiple lava rivers near the crusted lake's edge, as shared in their videos. Other small changes to the West Vent complex, pond and spillway are documented by our custom time-lapses, sourced from webcams courtesy of the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, whose media, maps and reports we also review. We also calculate and share the latest eruption rates, comparing them to previous trends. Decreases in summit pressure as indicated by ground tilt no longer appear to stagnate the recently intermittent lava lake, which still rises and falls accordingly but has only briefly ceased surface activity in the past two weeks. Gas emissions remain within their recent range, with vog remaining the most significant impact to island people, with otherwise no change in current volcanic threat. We discussing live viewer questions and annotate the media and graphs with our on-screen pen as usual. Bonus this week, following the lead of the USGS Volcano Watch, is a visual recap of the March 2011 Kamoamoa eruption, augmenting the published article with short USGS video clips from that eruption. This program is brought to you in part by a grant from the Hawaiʻi Island Strong Fund of the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation in partnership with the County of Hawaiʻi, and from donations from viewers like you. https://youtu.be/N8epSrqf9Ww