Volcano Watch — Kīlauea Volcano's summit vent plays a multisensory symphony
On trade wind days, which prevail much of the year, visitors to Kīlauea's summit are greeted by the majestic sight of a towering eruption plume that drifts to the southwest. At night, the deep red glow of the lava lake’s overturning surface is reflected by the fume above the vent within Halema‘uma‘u Crater.
The plume and nighttime glow wax and wane, but the sensory experience is normally visual (and perhaps spiritual). Until recently, that is.
For the past several months, lava within the summit vent has been slowly and fitfully rising. As of October 5, 2012, lava reached a level that covered the previous high-lava "bathtub" ring within the vent. This is when the other human senses—sound, smell, taste, and feel—became more engaged by the eruption, even as far away as the Jaggar Museum Overlook in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park.
As described by the Hawaii Tribune Herald on October 10, the rising level put hot lava much closer to the cooler rock than it had been before, causing rapid heating, expansion, and cracking of the vent walls. This caused bangs and booms that could easily be heard at Jaggar Museum because the trade winds, which usually steer sound away from the overlook, had ceased. In their place, gentle Kona breezes carried the rock-breaking sounds to the overlook, as well as the pungent smell and taste of sulfur dioxide gas in the plume and some fine strands of Pele's hair.
The rise in lava level within the vent is associated with a modest uplift and expansion of Kīlauea's summit area. The root cause for this expansion isn't clear. It's not likely due to an increase in magma supply from depth, because a significant increase in carbon dioxide emissions, which would reasonably accompany increased magma supply, has not been observed. Another possible explanation for the uplift and expansion is a backup of magma caused by a constriction in the volcanic plumbing system between the summit magma reservoir and the active Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō eruptive vent on Kīlauea's east rift zone.
There are some observations and data that support the possibility of a summit-rift constriction. For instance, when the lava lake level within the summit vent was previously as high as it is now, the lava in east rift zone vents was also at the same high level, minus about 80 m (260 ft) of frictional "head loss" (see Volcano Watch 07/05/2012). The reason for this lava level similarity is that the summit and rift vents, while over 18 km (11 mi) apart, are hydraulically connected. This connection has been responsible for significant east rift eruptive changes that occur in response to variations in summit activity, particularly during the past several years.
On at least three occasions between March and September 2011, the level of the lava lake within the summit vent was unusually elevated. This condition caused increased pressure within the east rift plumbing system, resulting in notable eruptive outbreaks: the short-lived Kamoamoa fissure eruption just uprift of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō and two subsequent events in which Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō was split open along its flanks.
For the last several months, lava within Kīlauea's summit vent has been at its highest level since the summit eruption began in 2008, and yet, it appears that the associated high summit pressure has not significantly transmitted down the volcano's east rift. The lava level within Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater, while elevated, is not extraordinarily so. And even though lava is flowing through a tube near the base of the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō cone, flows haven't reached the ocean in nearly a year.
A steady decrease in Kīlauea's east rift zone gas emissions since August 2012 also suggests a decrease in magma flow between the summit and east rift zone.
One possible outcome of continued summit expansion and lava level rise could be an eventual outpouring of lava on the floor of Halema‘uma‘u Crater. Alternatively, the increased pressure might overcome the apparent constriction, resulting in an outbreak somewhere between the summit and Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, akin to the March 2011 Kamoamoa fissure eruption.
Time will tell what happens next. For now, visitors to Kīlauea's summit can continue to watch the show and listen to the symphony of bangs and booms.
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Volcano 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 lake level rose to a new high stand, about 50 m (165 ft) below the floor of Halema‘uma‘u Crater, during a prolonged period of summit inflation that ended on October 9. As of this writing (October 11), the lava lake remains high, but the level could begin to fluctuate if back-to-back deflation-inflation events resume.
On Kīlauea's east rift zone, surface lava flows continued to accumulate at the base of the Pūlama pali within the abandoned Royal Gardens subdivision. One branch extended seaward across the coastal plain, reaching 1.7 km (about 1 mile) from the shoreline on October 10, but was moving slowly. Within the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater, the lava pond in the northeastern pit continued to circulate and was visible in the Webcam over the past week.
No earthquakes were reported felt in the last week below the island of Hawai‘i.
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