The Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii has erupted for the first time in 38 years

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For the first time in nearly four decades, the largest active volcano on Earth is erupting. Lava flows from Mauna Loa, in the heart of Hawaii’s Big Island, may threaten some roads, but other than that, authorities said there is no immediate danger to populated areas.

The USGS said the eruption began around 11:30 p.m. local time Sunday at Mukwawayo, the summit of Mauna Loa’s caldera. It was visible from Kona, a popular tourist destination on the west coast of the island. The last eruption of Mauna Loa was in 1984.

Hawaii County officials said no evacuation orders have been issued, but two shelters have been opened as a precaution. The authorities advised that the wind could carry volcanic gas and fine ash downwind.

While the eruption was initially limited to the volcano’s summit, the USGS said in an update at 7:20 a.m. that lava also began flowing from the northeastern side of the volcano, in what scientists refer to as the Northeast Rift Zone.

This is good news for the Kona region on the western side of the island, said Wendy Stovall, a volcanologist with the US Geological Survey, where steep slopes mean that lava flows from Mauna Loa’s southeast rift zone could take only a few hours, making it the most intense part of the island. Vulnerable from the island during the eruption of the volcano.

“When Mauna Loa erupts, it stays in one rift zone; it doesn’t usually move from one side to the other. The eruption has to stay in the northeast rift zone.”

The slopes of the volcano on its northeastern side are gradual, which means that it can take weeks or months, and a large amount of pyroclastic flows, for any inhabited areas to experience significant danger. The pyroclastic flows could eventually reach a major road that crosses the island, Saddle Road, Stovall said, as well as a road that leads to an observatory on Mauna Loa’s north side where measurements of atmospheric gases have been collected since the 1950s, including carbon dioxide and methane. known to cause climate change. Stovall said the observatory itself is not in imminent danger.

Falk Amelong, a professor at the University of Miami who has studied Mauna Loa, said that while there are no immediate signs of dangerous pyroclastic flows or earthquake hazards, both are common outcomes of past eruptions.

“The worst-case scenario is not good,” Amelong said, urging residents to prepare for earthquakes and to evacuate.

Source: Landsat Images

via Google Earth

Lauren Tierney/The Washington Post

Source: Landsat images via Google Earth

Lauren Tierney/The Washington Post

Source: Landsat images via Google Earth

Lauren Tierney/The Washington Post

Earthquakes are “not among the highest risks that we’re looking at right now,” said Wes Thelin, a USGS seismologist. He added that the largest earthquake ever recorded in Hawaii, in 1868, was linked to the Mauna Loa eruption, and that the links between volcanic eruptions and earthquakes are “very narrow”.

“There are cases of earthquakes that have triggered an eruption, and they have the potential to cause earthquakes,” Tellen said. “But it is not inevitable that there will be a major earthquake associated with this particular eruption.”

The increase in earthquake activity around Mauna Loa that began in late September provided a signal that the volcano was bound to erupt. Swarms of weak earthquakes have increased in frequency from about 20 per day to 40 to 50 per day. The US Geological Survey said last month on two occasions there were as many as 100 a day.

The USGS released this timelapse on November 28, filmed on the northern edge of the volcano’s summit caldera. (Video: USGS via Storyful)

Earthquakes occur as magma rises to the surface, breaking a path through Earth’s crust, but are usually small to medium in magnitude, said Ed Finsky, senior data researcher in the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program. These earthquakes are different—and less severe or destructive—from those caused by plate motions along fault lines.

The Ash Fall Warning expired at 10 a.m. Hawaiian time Monday, or 3 p.m. ET, for the Big Island and across the Maui Channel to the southeastern shores of Maui. The National Weather Service in Honolulu, located about 190 miles northwest of Mauna Loa, said up to a quarter of an inch of ash could accumulate across the Big Island, potentially causing respiratory distress for some people, damaging engines and electronics, and damage to crops and livestock.

The eruption prompted Southwest Airlines to cancel flights between Hilo and Honolulu, while Hawaiian Airlines flights were continuing.

Mauna Loa Lavas are currently confined to the summit, but things could change. Residents of the Big Island should familiarize themselves with this map which shows how long it will take for ML streams to reach different areas on its sides. South Kona should pay special attention. pic.twitter.com/iiNI4gvcZt

— Jackie Kaplan Auerbach 🇺🇦 🌻 (@geophysichick) November 28, 2022

The National Park Service said eruptions in 1984 and 1950 caused pyroclastic flows toward the towns of Hilo and South Kona, respectively. Streams can take anywhere from hours to weeks or months to reach communities, according to USGS maps.

“Based on past events, the early stages of a Mauna Loa eruption can be very dynamic, and the location and evolution of pyroclastic flows can change rapidly,” the USGS said.

Mauna Loa, one of the most active volcanoes on Earth, has erupted 33 times since 1843, according to the USGS.

Kilauea, the other active volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii, has been erupting since September 2021; Before that, lava from the 2018 eruption destroyed more than 700 homes. Although Kilauea is more active than Mauna Loa, it usually poses less of a hazard because it is smaller, and because lava flows tend to be smaller and move more slowly, according to the Hawaii Center for Volcanology.

Mauna Loa, whose name means “tall mountain,” is known as a shield volcano because it is much wider than it is tall. Mauna Loa makes up about 51 percent of the Big Island and rises 13,679 feet above sea level and about 30,000 feet of sea floor, according to the National Park Service.

Images captured by USGS research cameras and Civil Air Patrol flights showed a red glow appearing over Mauna Loa overnight, as lava engulfed the volcano’s northern slope Monday morning.

The volcanic eruption can also be seen from space, as bursts of heat and sulfur dioxide were captured by the NOAA’s GOES West satellite.

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