Hawai'i Volcano Blog

Kīlauea’s summit eruption continues and is confined to Halemaʻumaʻu crater within Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park.

Lava flows have inundated much of the crater floor, which is nearly 300 acres.

The team of inspectors will examine the damage and impact sustained to the Mauna Loa Observatory Road and other infrastructure that were overrun by lava from the eruption on the Big Island.

The earthquake was at a depth of 12 miles below sea level; and it occurred in a region of stress interaction between Mauna Loa and Kīlauea volcanoes.

Years of restoration work and ungulate control efforts in the Pu‘u Maka‘ala Natural Area Reserve could have been undone had lava flows gone a different direction.

There are as many different specialties within volcanology and as many paths you can take to get there as there are tools of the trade.

A new University of Hawaiʻi collaborative study by a team of experts estimates vog (volcanic smog) will have detrimental impacts on student test scores, especially students on the Big Island.

Often, the earliest signs of volcanic unrest, before lava is seen, are provided by earthquake activity occurring deeper within the Earth than where other volcano monitoring capabilities can reach. 

During the workshop, the agency will gather public input for the state’s update to its Hazard Mitigation Plan that deals with flooding, hurricanes, wildfires and other hazards.

A week ago, the Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park released a Finding of No Significant Impact on the plan to move forward with the park’s Disaster Recovery Project following the 2018 eruption and summit collapse of Kīlauea volcano.

The agency is recalling it teams that were deployed to assist Hawai‘i County Civil Defense during the eruption and efforts will now move to compiling damage and impact estimates.

The US Senate passed the annual National Defense Authorization Act, which included several provisions to protect coral reefs, improve the nation’s volcanic warning system and stop the practice of killing sharks for their fins.

Images captured last week of swirling clouds near the front of the lava flow from fissure 3 on Mauna Loa while it was still active were vortices similar to dust devils.

Seismicity and deformation patterns remain unsettled, which means there remains a potential the KIlauea eruption will resume or a new eruption can occur at or near the summit of Kīlauea. But it is unexpected Mauna Loa’s eruption will resume.

Today, at 9:35 a.m., the volcano’s status report said the Northeast Rift Zone eruption of Mauna Loa may still be active at the main fissure 3 vent, but “all 2022 lava flows appear to be inactive.”

Also in December, volcanoes Ibu and Dukono are erupting in tandem in Indonesia on the same island in the remote Maluku island chain.

The volcano is no longer producing lava that is moving outside and down the mountain, according to scientists.

The first few hours of Mauna Loa’s eruption were dynamic, and volcanologists intently watched monitoring data to track changing conditions and understand how the eruption was developing.

While the Mauna Loa eruption continues, officials with the U.S. Geological Survey say fissure 3 has significantly reduced lava and gas emission output.

The leading edge of the Mauna Loa eruption has stalled and is currently no longer a threat to Daniel K. Inouye Highway.