It Was A Great Weekend For Lava

The summit lava lake at Kilauea, seen on September 7 when it was only 8 meters below the rim.HVO-USGS It was a big weekend for lava flows at volcanoes around the globe. Let's check out some highlights: Hawai'i We almost saw new lava flows inside the Halema'uma'u Crater at Kilauea, as the lava lake was close to reaching its rim (see above). This was highest the lava lake has been since April-May 2015, when a small outbreak occurred as the lake overflowed. However, the night of September 11 saw a small deflation of Kilauea's summit, leading to the lava lake dropping 10-15 meters (33-49 feet). The Hawaii Volcano Observatory thinks that we might expect to see inflation return at the summit soon and the lake level to rise again. A few small earthquake swarms hit the summit and East Rift as well, likely related to pressurization at Halema'uma'u and lava moving within the volcano. HVO released some cool video of spattering within the summit lava lake. While you're watching that video, be sure to watch the surface of the lava lake as it moves and shifts like black leather. Near the spattering area, you can see some of the lake crust crumpling and then disappearing back into the lava lake. Be sure to watch the webcams that watch the lava lake, including both a panorama cam of the lava and an infrared thermal cam. Reunion IslandPiton de la Fournaise had another fissure eruption over the weekend, with their typical lava fountains and flows (see below) that followed. Video of the eruption (below) shows the long tendrils of lava snake down the volcano from the actively fountaining vent. The vigor of the eruption has dropped four-fold since it began on September 11 according to the latest report from the Observatories Volcanologique du Piton de la Fournaise (OVPF). A brief earthquake swarm on September 10 preceded the eruption, but the initiation of the eruption was more rapid than most at the Indian Ocean volcano. In May, a similar eruption occurred from theChâteau Fort cone. You can watch the eruption on one of the OVPF webcams.

Oh my god!!! 11/09/2016 ????⛰ je suis si chanceuse!!! #pitondelafournaise #volcan #eruptionvolcanique #reunion #974 #lanatureestbelle #magique #unique #jenpeuxplus