The flow front remains active, and continues to advance across the coastal plain. This afternoon, the flow front was approximately 1.7 km (1.1 miles) from the ocean. The leading front of the flow is the light gray area in the low center area of the photograph. Photo taken Tuesday, July 5, 2016 courtesy of USGS/HVO

A comparison of a normal photograph (left) with a thermal image (right) taken from roughly the same vantage point. The thermal image shows the concentration of hot surface lava near the flow front, as well as areas of surface breakouts on and above the pali. Photo taken Tuesday, July 5, 2016 courtesy of USGS/HVO

The amount of channelized lava on the pali has decreased over the past week, but there were still several open channels active today. Photo taken Tuesday, July 5, 2016 courtesy of USGS/HVO

A closer look at the swiftly moving channelized lava on the pali. Photo taken Tuesday, July 5, 2016 courtesy of USGS/HVO

Kilauea Volcano Update for Wednesday, July 6, 2016
by the U.S. Geological Survey/Hawaiian Volcano Observatory

Activity Summary: Eruptions continue at Kīlauea Volcano’s summit and East Rift Zone. The lava flow to the southeast of Puʻu ʻŌʻō continues to advance across the coastal plain and does not pose a threat to nearby communities. The lava lake at Halemaʻumaʻu Crater continues to circulate and spatter, and the lake level rose several meters (yards) as the summit tilt continued an inflationary trend during the past day. Low rates of seismicity are observed across the volcano.

Summit Observations: Tiltmeters at the summit continued to record an inflationary trend during the past day, and the level of the summit lava lake at Halemaʻumaʻu rose 6 meters (20 ft). Earlier this morning the lava level was roughly 24 m (79 ft) below the Halemaʻumaʻu Crater floor. Low rates of seismicity in the summit caldera region are noted, with minor fluctuations in seismic tremor related to variations in lava lake circulation and spattering. Sulfur dioxide emissions from the summit vent over the past week ranged from 2,700 to 6,300 metric tons/day.

Puʻu ʻŌʻō Observations: HVO webcams show several incandescent vents on the floor of Puʻu ʻŌʻō crater, as usual. There were no significant changes in seismic activity at Puʻu ʻŌʻō. A tiltmeter on the north flank of Puʻu ʻŌʻō recorded a slight inflationary trend during the past day. Sulfur dioxide emission rate from all East Rift Zone vents when last measured on June 27 was about 320 metric tons/day.

Lava Flow Observations: The active lava flow southeast of PuÊ»u ʻŌʻō continued to move across the coastal plain on KÄ«lauea’s south flank. When mapped on Tuesday afternoon, the flow front had advanced nearly 0.8 km (0.5 miles) since Monday; the flow front was about 1.7 km (1.1 miles) from the ocean. Bright incandescence is visible in the overnight webcam views of the active lava flow field, marking lava tube skylights above the pali.

https://youtu.be/3faholLENyo
The amount of channelized lava on the pali has decreased over the past week, but there were still several open channels active today. Video taken Tuesday, July 5, 2016 courtesy of USGS/HVO

This small-scale map shows Kīlauea’s active East Rift Zone lava flow field in relation to the southeastern part of the Island of Hawaiʻi. The area of the active flow field on June 30 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the active flow field as mapped on July 5 is shown in red. Older Puʻu ʻŌʻō lava flows (1983–2016) are shown in gray.
The blue lines over the PuÊ»u ʻŌʻō flow field are steepest-descent paths calculated from a 2013 digital elevation model (DEM), while the blue lines on the rest of the map are steepest-descent paths calculated from a 1983 DEM (for calculation details, see http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2007/1264/). Steepest-descent path analysis is based on the assumption that the DEM perfectly represents the earth’s surface. DEMs, however, are not perfect, so the blue lines on this map can be used to infer only approximate flow paths. The base map is a partly transparent 1:24,000-scale USGS digital topographic map draped over the 1983 10-m digital elevation model (DEM).