Based on observations during helicopter overflights, visual observations from HVO and National Park Service (NPS) crews, and web camera views, HVO reported that during 7-13 May lava flowed SE through a lava tube system underneath Kilauea’s Thanksgiving Eve Breakout (TEB) and rootless shield complex to the Waikupanaha ocean entry. Incandescence was occasionally noted from the TEB vent area. During 10-13 May, spatter at the Waikupanaha ocean entry was propelled 20-30 m high and built a littoral cone.
During the reporting period, Kilauea summit earthquakes were located beneath the Halema’uma’u crater, N of the summit, along the S-flank faults, and along the SW and E rift zones. The eruption from the vent in Halema’uma’u Crater continued to produce white plumes with minor ash content that drifted mainly SW. During most nights incandescence was seen at the base of the plume. Seismic tremor was elevated. During 11-12 May, the summit tiltmeter network recorded the tenth ‘deflation-inflation’ (DI) tilt event since the emergence of the new vent in Halema`uma`u Crater and the seventeenth so far in 2008.The sulfur dioxide emission rate was high and fluctuated between 590 and 1,100 tonnes per day during 6-12 May. The background rate was 150-200 tonnes per day.
Source: US Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) – “Reports provided courtesy of the Smithsonian’s Global Volcanism Program and the US Geological Survey’s Volcano Hazards Program.”