Mauna Loa Volcano on the big island is erupting at the summit

[White 6]

I have always had an interest in seismic events since a paper I did as a sophomore in college, on plate tectonics and specifically on the state of California. That paper discussed volcanoes, but was not specific to volcanoes, though being major events, they are of great interest to me. This time, there is another eruption (as of last night) in Hawaii.

Mauna Loa, on the Big Island started erupting at the summit, sometime after 11:00 PM, as a fissure opened in the summit caldera. The glow was visible in the night sky over 90 miles away. At the present time, no fissure have opened on the flank slope of Mauna Loa in the rift zones, but lava is filling the caldera as we speak.

Lava from Hawaii volcano lights night sky amid warnings

Waves of orange, glowing lava and ash blasted and billowed from the world’s largest active volcano and people on Hawaii’s Big Island have been warned to be ready if their communities are threatened.

apnews.com

 

[0311]

The Goddess Pele is pissed again. Good news is so far is that the lava flow has been mainly on the crest, though Hawaii Civil Defense is sending out alerts for ash fall.

The 1950 eurption saw lava spread 15-miles in just three hours and lava will go where it wants. Offerings to Pele on the Big Island are being made in hopes of appeasing her.

 

[Zincwarrior]

I have always had an interest in seismic events since a paper I did as a sophomore in college, on plate tectonics and specifically on the state of California. That paper discussed volcanoes, but was not specific to volcanoes, though being major events, they are of great interest to me. This time, there is another eruption (as of last night) in Hawaii.

Mauna Loa, on the Big Island started erupting at the summit, sometime after 11:00 PM, as a fissure opened in the summit caldera. The glow was visible in the night sky over 90 miles away. At the present time, no fissure have opened on the flank slope of Mauna Loa in the rift zones, but lava is filling the caldera as we speak.

Lava from Hawaii volcano lights night sky amid warnings

Waves of orange, glowing lava and ash blasted and billowed from the world’s largest active volcano and people on Hawaii’s Big Island have been warned to be ready if their communities are threatened.

apnews.com

Is that dangerous? I know Hawaii generally has more mellow lava flows but what does that mean?

 

[0311]

Is that dangerous? I know Hawaii generally has more mellow lava flows but what does that mean?

When Kilauea erupted, the lava flow went all the way to the sea. Housing developments were destroyed. Lava will flow where it wants, luckily so far the flow has been limited.

 

[Zincwarrior]

Ok, so its dangerous locally, but its not like exploding volcano dangerous. Yay!

 

[westwall]

Is that dangerous? I know Hawaii generally has more mellow lava flows but what does that mean?

Hawaii has among the least dangerous eruptions on the planet. Basaltic flows, such as these, are noted for lava that flows very freely, so while the lava will travel great distances, the volcanos don't have the explosive nature of andesitic volcanos like Krakatoa and Mt. St. Helens.

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Excellent. Everything is going according to plan

 

[MarathonMike]

I have always had an interest in seismic events since a paper I did as a sophomore in college, on plate tectonics and specifically on the state of California. That paper discussed volcanoes, but was not specific to volcanoes, though being major events, they are of great interest to me. This time, there is another eruption (as of last night) in Hawaii.

Mauna Loa, on the Big Island started erupting at the summit, sometime after 11:00 PM, as a fissure opened in the summit caldera. The glow was visible in the night sky over 90 miles away. At the present time, no fissure have opened on the flank slope of Mauna Loa in the rift zones, but lava is filling the caldera as we speak.

Lava from Hawaii volcano lights night sky amid warnings

Waves of orange, glowing lava and ash blasted and billowed from the world’s largest active volcano and people on Hawaii’s Big Island have been warned to be ready if their communities are threatened.

apnews.com

So are the seismologists thinking it will be a slow lava flow or could it be a big ka-boom?

 

[BackAgain]

Volcanic eruptions usually occur at the summit. (Not always, just usually.)

Mt. St. Helens kind of blew up kind of sideways.

 

[westwall]

So are the seismologists thinking it will be a slow lava flow or could it be a big ka-boom?

It is 99% of the time going to be a slow flow.

Even when it is fast it tends to go straight up.

 

[westwall]

Volcanic eruptions usually occur at the summit. (Not always, just usually.)

Mt. St. Helens kind of blew up kind of sideways.

Shield volcanoes, such as Mauna Loa, have vents all over the place. There is no way of knowing where the lava will break from till it happens.


St. Helens first had a major landslide that exposed the magma to the glacier ice, which caused a phreatomagmatic explosion.

 

[0311]

So are the seismologists thinking it will be a slow lava flow or could it be a big ka-boom?

From I understand, that depends on the size of the lava dome. And ofopcourse the speed of lava as it flows. Nothing can really stop it. Whatever is in its way, well it burns.

 

[Disir]

HONOLULU (AP) — The world’s largest active volcano was erupting Monday and wasn’t immediately threatening communities on Hawaii’s Big Island, but officials warned residents to be ready for worse.

Many current residents weren’t living there when Mauna Loa last erupted 38 years ago. The U.S. Geological Survey warned the roughly 200,000 people on the Big Island that an eruption “can be very dynamic, and the location and advance of lava flows can change rapidly.”

The eruption began late Sunday night following a series of fairly large earthquakes, said Ken Hon, the scientist-in-charge at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

There’s been a surge of development on the Big Island in recent decades — its population has more than doubled, from 92,000 in 1980.

Lava from Hawaii volcano lights night sky amid warnings

Waves of orange, glowing lava and ash blasted and billowed from the world’s largest active volcano and people on Hawaii’s Big Island have been warned to be ready if their communities are threatened.

apnews.com

This has the capacity to be horrific. I don't know if I could live next to a volcano. That's a bit too much.

 

[ClaireH]

HONOLULU (AP) — The world’s largest active volcano was erupting Monday and wasn’t immediately threatening communities on Hawaii’s Big Island, but officials warned residents to be ready for worse.

Many current residents weren’t living there when Mauna Loa last erupted 38 years ago. The U.S. Geological Survey warned the roughly 200,000 people on the Big Island that an eruption “can be very dynamic, and the location and advance of lava flows can change rapidly.”

The eruption began late Sunday night following a series of fairly large earthquakes, said Ken Hon, the scientist-in-charge at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

There’s been a surge of development on the Big Island in recent decades — its population has more than doubled, from 92,000 in 1980.

Lava from Hawaii volcano lights night sky amid warnings

Waves of orange, glowing lava and ash blasted and billowed from the world’s largest active volcano and people on Hawaii’s Big Island have been warned to be ready if their communities are threatened.

apnews.com

This has the capacity to be horrific. I don't know if I could live next to a volcano. That's a bit too much.

I’m with you Disir. What I find shocking is home buyers in HA who actually look for “lava views” from their property, well at least depicted on a show….and I sometimes take calculated risks for an expected pay off, but a house with lava views is absolutely outside of my interest area!

 

[B. Kidd]

I'll take the pink-white beaches in Cancun any day over Hawaii!!

 

[basquebromance]

 

[White 6]

Is that dangerous? I know Hawaii generally has more mellow lava flows but what does that mean?

Not yet. Poring out lava from the top of the crater is what shield volcanoes do in the process of building up the shield they are known for. This could be the start or could be just a momentary thing. Multiple quakes have been occurring with negative depths, meaning above sea (the depth from which they are measured) for a while up to -3 to just shy of -4K. Mauna Loa is about 4 kilometers tall. The quakes mean there is movement in the lava chambers (multiple). I have heard it said there was no big quake, the largest recorded lately was around 4 on the Richter scale, a magnitude many of our board friends in California routinely scoff at. Lacking a large quake energy release, at least one said the newly opened fissure was created by a steam explosion, which I wonder at, as being a novice, it is hard to imagine a steam explosion as a lineal occurrence, opening an extended vent on the surface, to produce a lineal liquefied curtain lava fountain, producing enough height and length to light the night sky at the summit enough to be seen from 90 miles away. I bet it is magnificent, but no camera right there to see it, as the area has been closed off for weeks.

 

[westwall]

Not yet. Poring out lava from the top of the crater is what shield volcanoes do in the process of building up the shield they are known for. This could be the start or could be just a momentary thing. Multiple quakes have been occurring with negative depths, meaning above sea (the depth from which they are measured) for a while up to -3 to just shy of -4K. Mauna Loa is about 4 kilometers tall. The quakes mean there is movement in the lava chambers (multiple). I have heard it said there was no big quake, the largest recorded lately was around 4 on the Richter scale, a magnitude many of our board friends in California routinely scoff at. Lacking a large quake energy release, at least one said the newly opened fissure was created by a steam explosion, which I wonder at, as being a novice, it is hard to imagine a steam explosion as a lineal occurrence, opening an extended vent on the surface, to produce a lineal liquefied curtain lava fountain, producing enough height and length to light the night sky at the summit enough to be seen from 90 miles away. I bet it is magnificent, but no camera right there to see it, as the area has been closed off for weeks.

You can get a lineal fissure if the magma follows a covered stream that is still transporting water.

Not common, but it does happen. Typically when this volcano gets this far into an eruption the event will continue on for years.