Kīlauea Report: Eruption Steadies, Cycles Resume

Kīlauea Report, October 5, 2022: As its eruption progresses into a second year, no major changes were evident on Kīlauea over the past week. The volcano continues to generally swell, inflating with magma, filling its summit crater below its surface crust and circulating lava within its persistent lava lake, as evidenced in the main trends shown by summit tiltmeters and GPS stations. But over the past week, the typical smaller-scale cycles in surface deformation known as Deflation-Inflation events have dominated the short term signals. Yet the active lake depth has only fluctuated within a 5 foot or 1.4 meter range, and no ooze-up flows were observed from around the crater’s perimeter. Viewing for visitors to Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park remains good, with lava spattering within the lake and glow visible from the West Vent cones and pond. Gas emissions are back up near their recent average, with 1,800 tonnes of SO2 per day reported on September 30th. Vog to downwind communities remains the primary hazard of the eruption. Overall, the eruption appears to have steadied once again, resuming its long-term trends. While future disruptions to that pattern are a near certainty, recent events such as the intrusion and minor drop of the crater floor are part of the expected progression as the volcano develops its shallow magma storage within the summit and upper rift zones following the 2018 collapse. For the near future, there remains no increased lava threat outside of the National Park. — Join our special live video review of Kīlauea’s ongoing eruption at 5pm Hawaiʻi time weekly on Thursdays. To support our productions (for free) please like, share and subscribe! This content is funded by the Hawaiʻi County Waiwai Grant-In-Aid in association with Malama O Puna and by contributions from viewers like you! To donate, visit https://www.hawaiitracker.com/support. Mahalo! #Kilauea2022 #KilaueaErupts [Image: USGS V1 webcam]