During 24-30 June, HVO reported that lava flowed SE from underneath Kilauea's Thanksgiving Eve Breakout (TEB) and rootless shield complex through a lava tube system, reaching the Waikupanaha and Kupapa'u ocean entries. Thermal anomalies detected in satellite images and visual observations revealed active surface flows on the pali and on the TEB flow field. Explosions from both ocean entries were occasionally reported. On 28 June, officials reported a wide swath of lava flows descending the pali.

The vent in Halema'uma'u crater continued to produce a predominantly white plume that drifted mainly SW. Small amounts of ash-sized tephra, including Pele's hair and fresh spatter, were retrieved from collection bins placed near the plume during the reporting period. A molten lava pool (54 m in diameter) near the base of the cavity, about 290 m below the floor of the crater, produced incandescence of variable brightness. The level of the lava pond rose periodically. Sounds resembling rushing gas and rockfalls were occasionally heard in the vicinity of the crater. The sulfur dioxide emission rate at the summit remained elevated; measurements were 800 tonnes per day on 24 and 26 June. The 2003-2007 average rate was 140 tonnes per day.

Geological Summary. Kilauea overlaps the E flank of the massive Mauna Loa shield volcano in the island of Hawaii. Eruptions are prominent in Polynesian legends; written documentation since 1820 records frequent summit and flank lava flow eruptions interspersed with periods of long-term lava lake activity at Halemaumau crater in the summit caldera until 1924. The 3 x 5 km caldera was formed in several stages about 1,500 years ago and during the 18th century; eruptions have also originated from the lengthy East and Southwest rift zones, which extend to the ocean in both directions. About 90% of the surface of the basaltic shield volcano is formed of lava flows less than about 1,100 years old; 70% of the surface is younger than 600 years. The long-term eruption from the East rift zone between 1983 and 2018 produced lava flows covering more than 100 km2, destroyed hundreds of houses, and added new coastline.

Source: US Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO)