Mauna Loa Activity

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Mauna Loa has increased activity, the trails are closed and USGS will begin issuing daily reports starting tomorrow.  You can sign up to receive notifications here:

https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/vns2/


Mauna Loa is not erupting and there are no signs of an imminent eruption at this time.  

However, Mauna Loa is currently experiencing heightened unrest. Earthquake activity has been increasing from 5-10 earthquakes per day since June 2022, to 10-20 earthquakes per day in July and August, and reaching approximately 40-50 earthquakes per day over the past two weeks.  Peak numbers of over 100 earthquakes per day occurred on September 23rd and 29th.  
Inflation or expansion of Mauna Loa's summit is accompanying the earthquake activity and has also increased in the past two weeks.  The last time Mauna Loa displayed similar elevated earthquake activity and expansion of the summit region was late-January to late-March of 2021. Additional periods of increased earthquake activity have also occurred during the 38 years since the last eruption of Mauna Loa in 1984.  

https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/hans2/view/no...6:56-07:00

[Ccat]

Mauna Loa has increased activity, the trails are closed and USGS will begin issuing daily reports starting tomorrow. 

yep, it’s making me nervous!   After 2018, who wouldn’t be afraid of a repeat!

[MyManao]

I like how Big Island Video News packages HVO and other local alerts. Here's their announcement of the changes at Mauna Loa..

https://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2022/...es-summit/

And here is the same data that they feature in a map view of the swarm, shown up to today, plotted vertically and over time.. from left to right over the last four weeks..



Note that the swarm appears to be subsiding. But because of it's location, well above sea level (sea level is 0 in the vertical scale on the left of the plot - and negative numbers above that are distance above sea level) there is the potential for magma to reach the surface without making all that much more noise..

[TomK]

Note that the swarm appears to be subsiding. But because of it's location, well above sea level (sea level is 0 in the vertical scale on the left of the plot - and negative numbers above that are distance above sea level) there is the potential for magma to reach the surface without making all that much more noise..

Are you saying that magma could reach the surface in Mauna Loa's crater and it might not be detectable?

[MyManao]

Are you saying that magma could reach the surface in Mauna Loa's crater and it might not be detectable?

Actually, something a bit shy of 'not detectable'

The last time we were in this situation, in 1984, when the mountain was this inflated and seismicity this shallow, it was less than four hours between the time the final ascent began, ie the final EQ swarm was initially detected, and when magma broke the surface of the volcano. And that period wasn't even as 'noisy' as one might have expected. There's a whole back story to all that that even makes it a comedy.. but that's an entirely different story..

Interestingly, Ken, the current SIC at HVO, said pretty much the same last night on tv.. the vid clip of which can be watched here..

https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/video/2022...mauna-loa/

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

What’s shakin’?
50 quakes around Mauna Loa in the last 24 hours

https://www.yahoo.com/news/more-50-earth...29978.html

[kalianna]

I think they're talking about the swarm last month-- it's a Sacramento article. Total number for 24 hours has been consistent for the last couple week, not nearly fifty a day.

https://www.usgs.gov/observatories/hvo

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

The Civil Defense notice included farther down the page has today’s date on it though?

[dan_c]

Here is a link to the daily update.  It was 50 per the report.

https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/mauna-loa...no-updates

[kalianna]

Thanks, dan_c. I guess fifty earthquakes a day is the "new normal".