HAWAII VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK, Hawaii — The eruptions at the summit of Kilauea and fissure three on the Northeast Rift Zone of Mauna Loa are at an extremely low level and appear to be winding down, said Ken Hon, scientist-in-charge at the Hawaiian Volcanoes Observatory at Sunday’s media briefing.

What You Need To Know

  • Scientists believe the eruption is winding down, or at the very least, pausing

  • “There is a possibility that it could continue at very, very low effusion rates, but it would have to ramp slightly back up … we’re still watching this,” stated Hon

  • Activity at Kilauea summit has also fully paused; the lava lake is stagnant and crusted over

  • Because of the downward trend, HVO has reduced the volcano alert level from “warning” to “watch”

Lava activity is largely confined to the fissure three vent in a small pond with some overnight activity on the backside of the cone. Incandescent lighting showing through a hole in the cone is lighting up the fume cloud at night.

A USGS update said lava flows about 1.5 miles from the vent that were active on Friday stalled on Saturday, and the flow located 1.9 miles from the Daniel K. Inouye Hwy. has stagnated and is no longer a threat.

Earthquakes have also begun dropping off at the summit, and are down to “very low levels.” It’s the same with volcanic tremors, “which is a vibration induced by having fresh magma come up to the vent,” explained Hon. Scientists are seeing almost no tremors, which is consistent with the minimal amounts of upwelling in a lava pond trapped within the vent area.

Scientists believe the eruption is winding down, or at the very least, pausing.

The volcano is already re-inflating, according to Hon, a sign that lava isn’t coming to the surface, but staying in the magma chamber, so there is a small possibility that the eruption could continue at a very low level.

“There is a possibility that it could continue at very, very low effusion rates, but it would have to ramp slightly back up,” said Hon in the briefing. “There’s no possibility of it returning to the very high effusion rates — big fountains and large lava flows — that we had over the past couple of weeks. So we’re still watching this.”

Hon said scientists have little information about prior flows that changed from high fountain activity to low activity because there was poor access to the saddle area, but the last such activity took place in 1935.

At this point, activity at Kilauea summit has also fully paused; the lava lake is stagnant and crusted over. “So it looks like both volcanoes are headed into this lower activity, or perhaps both will be paused soon,” said Hon.

Because of the downward trend, HVO has reduced the volcano alert level from “warning” to “watch.” The aviation color code remains orange.

Talmadge Magno of the County of Hawaii Civil Defense said operations will continue based on the lowering of the alert level. Civil Defense is working on plans to scale down operations, but will continue to work with HVO should the situation change.

According to a representative from the Hawaii Police Department, there were eight traffic citations issued Saturday night, all for speeding. “So that’s a reminder for people that there is a reduced speed limit within the lava parking area around mile marker 18.5.” There was also a minor traffic collision and a report of a reckless driver.

Sarah Yamanaka covers events, environmental and community news for Spectrum News Hawaii. She can be reached at sarah.yamanaka@charter.com.