Trails reopen within Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park following brief Kīlauea eruption

Trails have reopened within Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park after a brief eruption southwest of Kīlauea summit earlier this week closed several areas.

Hilina Pali Road, Kulanaokuaiki Campground, the Footprints Exhibit and Pepeiao Cabin are now open. Additionally, the park reopened the coastal campsite at Kaʻaha, Devastation Trail and Keanakākoʻi earlier this week.

Maunaiki Trail and Kaʻū Desert Trail past the Footprints Exhibit remain closed due to elevated gases and other volcanic hazards that remain at the eruption site. Visitors should plan ahead and check the park website for updates before entering the park.

Scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reported elevated volcanic gas emissions, ground subsidence and severe earth cracks that formed during the short-lived eruption. These cracks have unstable edges and could continue to widen.

Other hazards include hot, glass-like surfaces on the new lava flows, uneven and rough terrain and hot temperatures.

The fissure eruption started on June 3 around 12:30 a.m. in a remote area in the park, about 2.5 miles southwest of Kīlauea caldera near the volcano’s upper Southwest Rift Zone. The eruption ended about 12 hours later.

Although the eruption has ended, renewed pulses of seismicity and deformation could result in new eruptive episodes within the area or elsewhere within the summit region.

According to HVO on Saturday, glow from fissures vents continued to be visible in webcam imagery overnight but glow intensity was significantly lower than the previous night. Volcanic gas emissions at the eruption site are approaching background levels (100 tonnes per day or less). Total SO2 emission rates for the summit and eruption site of approximately 400 t/d were measured on June 6. Seismic activity remains low at the eruption site.

Rates of seismicity beneath the summit, upper East Rift Zone, and upper Southwest Rift Zone were elevated over the past day. Tremor has decreased to background levels across the summit region. More than 170 earthquakes occurred over the past 24 hours.

Earthquakes were mostly located beneath the south caldera region and upper East Rift Zone, at depths of 1–1.8 miles, with magnitudes under M2.5. Inflationary ground deformation of the summit continued over the past day. The Uēkahuna tiltmeter northwest of the summit recorded overall inflation of approximately 1 microradian over the past 24 hours.

The Sand Hill tiltmeter southwest of the summit recorded approximately 6 microradians of inflation over the past 24 hours.