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Kilauea’s latest eruption declared over; alert levels lowered

M. ZOELLER / COURTESY USGS
                                Lava fountains from a fissure just west of Napau Crater on Thursday. The eruption last week was officially declared over today, geologists said.

M. ZOELLER / COURTESY USGS

Lava fountains from a fissure just west of Napau Crater on Thursday. The eruption last week was officially declared over today, geologists said.

The Napau Crater eruption last week in a remote area of Kilauea volcano is officially over “and is unlikely to restart,” Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologists said today.

“The eruption in and near Napau Crater had four eruptive phases between Sept. 15 and Sept. 20. The final eruptive activity from a small vent west of Napau Crater ended at about 10 a.m. on Sept. 20,” officials with the U.S. Geological Survey agency said in a news release.

HVO lowered its volcano alert level for ground-based hazards from “watch” to “advisory,” and the aviation color code from orange to yellow.

”Seismicity in the area is extremely low and tremor, characteristic of magma within vents, is no longer being recorded by seismometers in the area,” scientists said. “In addition, the ground deformation data that showed magma was moving from the summit to the middle East Rift Zone has slowed dramatically or stopped altogether. Volcanic gas emissions have decreased to near background levels. All of these factors indicate that this eruption has ended.”

They said last week’s eruption occurred in a remote area of Kilauea’s middle East Rift Zone within Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, and that no changes have been detected in the lower East Rift Zone, or Southwest Rift Zone.

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