Hawaii’s Mauna Loa Begins Eruption, Throws Ash Nearby – Morning Journal

HONOLULU — Hawaii’s Mauna Loa, the world’s largest active volcano, has begun to erupt for the first time in nearly 40 years, sending ash and debris falling nearby, officials said Monday.

The eruption began late Sunday night in the volcano’s summit caldera on the Big Island of Hawaii, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Early Monday morning, the lava flow was contained within the summit area and said it did not threaten nearby communities.

“However, summit lava flows are visible from Kona. There are currently no indications that the eruption has moved into the rift zone,” the Hawaii Volcano Observatory said in a statement. A rift valley is a relatively weak place where mountains are split and rocks are cracked, and magma can easily erupt.

USGS spokesperson Miel Corbett said it is impossible to predict how long the volcano will erupt and whether lava may flow into populated areas of the island.

“But I would say that we are currently in constant communication with Hawaii Civil Defense and keeping our community members up to date,” she said.

The USGS has warned residents at risk from Mauna Loa’s lava flow to reassess their preparations for the eruption. Scientists were alarmed by a recent spike in earthquakes at the summit of the volcano, which last erupted in 1984.

Parts of the Big Island of Hawaii are under an ash fall advisory issued by the National Weather Service in Honolulu, which said some areas could accumulate up to a quarter inch (0.6 centimeters) of ash. I’m here.

Mauna Loa is one of five volcanoes that make up the island of Hawaii, the southernmost of the Hawaiian Islands.

At 13,679 feet above sea level, Mauna Loa is the much larger neighbor of the Kilauea volcano, which erupted in a residential area in 2018, destroying 700 homes. Some slopes are much steeper than Kilauea, so lava flows during eruptions. much faster.

A 1950 eruption displaced the mountain’s lava 15 miles out to sea in less than three hours.