The world’s largest active volcano, Hawaii’s Mauna Loa, began to erupt for the first time in nearly four decades, causing volcanic ash and debris to fall nearby, authorities said Monday.
The eruption began at about 11:30 p.m. Sunday at Moku’āweoweo, the summit caldera of Mauna Loa volcano, inside Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island.
As of 2:43 a.m. local time, “eruption continues at the summit of Mauna Loa,” according to the latest Status Report from the US Geological Survey’s Hawaii Volcano Observatory (USGS). “All vents remain restricted to the summit area,” the report said. “However, lava flows in the summit region are visible from Kona. There is currently no indication of any migration of the eruption to a rupture zone.”
A rift zone is where the mountain is splitting apart, the rock is cracked and relatively weak, and it’s easier for magma to emerge, according to The Associated Press.
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“The volcano alert level and aviation color code for Mauna Loa remain at WARNING/RED,” the update added. “HVO continues to monitor conditions carefully and will issue additional advisories as necessary.”
The USGS warned that residents at risk from Mauna Loa lava flows should review their preparations for the eruption. Scientists had been on alert because of a recent increase in earthquakes at the top of the volcano, which last erupted in 1984.
Parts of the Big Island were under an ashfall advisory issued by the National Weather Service in Honolulu, which said up to a quarter-inch of ash could accumulate in some areas.
This image provided by the USGS Hawaii Volcano Observatory shows a view from a research chamber at the northern rim of the summit caldera of Mauna Loa volcano, Monday, Nov. 28, 2022. The US Geological Survey It says the eruption began Sunday night in the volcano’s summit caldera on the Big Island.
(USGS Hawaii Volcano Observatory via AP)
Mauna Loa is one of five volcanoes that together make up the Big Island of Hawaii, which is the southernmost island in the Hawaiian archipelago.
Mauna Loa is seen from the Gilbert Kahele Recreation Area on Saddle Road on the Big Island of Hawaii on October 27, 2022. The ground shakes and swells at Mauna Loa, the world’s largest active volcano, indicating it could enter erupting.
(AP Photo/Megan Moseley)
Mauna Loa, rising 13,679 feet above sea level, is the much larger neighbor to the Kilauea volcano, which erupted in a residential neighborhood and destroyed 700 homes in 2018. Some of its slopes are much steeper than Kilauea’s. , so when it erupts, its lava can flow. Too much faster.
During a 1950 eruption, lava from the mountain traveled 15 miles to the ocean in less than three hours.
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Mauna Loa last erupted for twenty days between March and April 1984. That means the new eruption that began Sunday night ended the volcano’s longest period of calm in recorded history.
“Based on past events, the early stages of a Mauna Loa eruption can be very dynamic and the location and advancement of lava flows can change rapidly,” the USGS said Sunday night. “If the eruption remains in Moku’āweoweo, the lava flows are most likely confined within the caldera walls. However, if the eruptive vents migrate outside its walls, the lava flows can move rapidly uphill. down”.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
