volcano – Seite 3 – Global-Affair.net

Vigorous fountaining from the north vent at 11:00 AM local time today (image: hawaiitracker.com)

A small, sluggish lava flow from the north vent at approximately 09:15 AM local time today, signaled a start of a fourth episode of the ongoing summit eruption.
By 09:50 local time, the lava flow activity intensified, with lava fountaining beginning around 09:55 AM local time. At the time of writing, an estimated 10 percent of the Halemaʻumaʻu crater floor is covered with the fresh lava. The webcam footage shows vigorous lava fountains reaching a height of about 60 meters (200 feet). The sluggish, low-effusion activity marking the onset of this fourth episode was shorter in duration compared to the slow starts of the second (3–4 hours) and third (2.5 days) episodes. No activity has been observed at the south vent.

The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory added: „The tiltmeter at Uēkahuna continued to record inflation beneath Halemaʻumaʻu starting around 9 a.m. yesterday, and may be starting to show signs of leveling off. Tremor increased when fountaining began, but is still lower than the first two episodes of vigorous high fountains (>250 feet or 80 meters).

If fountaining continues, it is possible that the fountain heights will increase as more gas-rich lava erupted. It is not possible to estimate how high the fountains may get or how long the fountaining will last, but prior episodes have produced fountains over 200 feet high (70 m) that last up to 24 hours.“