The Causes of Mauna Loa Volcano Eruptions and Their Impact on Hawaii’s Public Works and Public Works in the Humu’ula Saddle
After erupting for the first time in nearly 40 years, lava flows from Hawaii’s Mauna Loa volcano now “appear to be inactive,” the US Geological Survey said Monday.
But the current eruptions are different. While it’s unclear how far the lava will travel from either volcano, experts say history and context can provide clues.
Mauna Loa is the world’s largest active volcano. It stretches from base to summit and takes up half of Hawaii’s Big Island, according to the US Geological Survey.
The reduction of lava supply isn’t known, but it is very common for eruptions to wax and fade or pause completely, but no of the recorded eruptions returned to high eruption rates after the rates decreased significantly.
lava does not sneak up on people on the island of Hawaii. People know when it’s coming.
Lava from Mauna Loa was crawling forward Tuesday at about 21 yards per hour, said Mike Zoeller of the US Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.
And while authorities once worried the lava would cross a major highway, the flow front in the Humu’ula Saddle region has stagnated 1.9 miles from the Daniel K. Inouye Highway and is no longer a threat, according to USGS.
It’s difficult to say which infrastructure or buildings could be damaged by lava, because all that could change in an hour.
“There have been some scares. Hilo is one of the biggest cities on the island, and in the 1880s, Mauna Loa lava flow kind of crept up pretty close to Hilo – but even then didn’t quite make it.”
The fate of the Mauna Loa lava field and its impact on the area of Pohakuloa, Hawaii, according to the US Geological Survey
Right now, there’s a “small chance that the flow would diverge and turn towards the west,” Lev said, where “it might interact with roads and structures in the Pōhakuloa Game Management Area.”
The US Army’s Pohakuloa Training area is located about 20 miles north of Mauna loa. An unexploded ordnance was spotted this week in lava rocks near a Mauna Loa eruption viewing area, Hawaii News Now reported.
But there are too many variables – such as how deep the military device is in the ground – to speculate what might happen if a lava reached it, Gregg said.
There is a chance that another eruption will be closer to communities but not from the current location of the Kilauea eruption.
Humans in the past have tried to divert or even stop lava from advancing. Workers have used bulldozers to build huge earthen walls to try to redirect lava after eruptions, such as that of Mount Etna in Sicily.
In 1935, the founder of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory asked the US Army Air Corps to bomb the source of lava flowing from Mauna Loa as it headed toward the Wailuku River, according to the US Geological Service.
Residents and tourists are urged to pay attention to warnings from local officials and to heed any guidance from volcanologists.
The latest behavior of the eruptions indicates they will soon end, said experts from the US Geological Survey.
“The channels below the vent appear drained of lava and no longer feed the main flow front,” the USGS said in a Monday update. Satellite imagery shows the flow field cooling and no longer active.
“The inactive main flow front still glows at a few spots at night and may inch northward very slowly as it continues to settle,” the survey said Monday.
The deputy scientist-in- charge of the Hawaiian volcano observatory said over the weekend the lava flow that was threatening the highway was no longer active.
“The significance of the continuing inflation while the flow field is inactive is not yet clear; it is common for eruptions to wax and wane or pause completely, but none of the eight recorded eruptions from Mauna Loa’s Northeast Rift Zone returned to high eruption rates after those rates decreased significantly,” the geological survey said.