Now Mauna Loa is rumbling ?

[terracore]

http://hawaiitribune-herald.com/news/loc...ring-erupt

According to this article, if Mauna Loa does erupt, Kilauea may stop:

http://www.livescience.com/24262-kilauea...inked.html

[unknownjulie]

The time is still a couple years off from what I understand, even if it does happen.

[deserteagle50ae]

Not entirely true, when Mauna Loa last erupted in 1984, both Kilauea and Mauna Loa were erupting for a time together simultaneously.

[terracore]

:With Kilauea erupting, there’s no reason to believe that it will prevent Mauna Loa from doing the same. Both can be active at the same time, as seen in 1984, Thelen said.

“They are not obviously connected” underground, he said, though he noted it’s “curious” that Mauna Loa has stayed relatively quiet over the past three decades while Kilauea has been anything but.

In the last 3,000 years, Mauna Loa has erupted on average every five to six years, Thelen said.

But that may just mean we are due."

[TomK]

I checked the latest info at the HVO site about Mauna Kea:

http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/activity/maunaloastatus.php

Bear in mind this report was 4th September - think they have other things to keep them busy right now and think they are only doing monthly reports for Mauna Loa

"Seismicity: Seismicity at Mauna Loa remains elevated in several parts of the volcano. In early August a swarm of Deep (45-50 km) Long Period (DLP) earthquakes occurred under the volcano. It was the most numerous swarm of earthquakes in this region since a swarm of DLP earthquakes and deformation in 2004 and 2005. It is common at Mauna Loa and other volcanoes worldwide to associate deep magma intrusion with the occurrence of DLP earthquakes. Earthquake rates on the Upper Southwest Rift Zone (Sulfur Cone) and West Flank remain elevated, though similar to the past couple of months. Seismicity rates in the Moku#699;#257;weoweo Crater increased over previous months with at over 20 events in the past month at shallow (<2 km) depths. All earthquakes in the past month have been small relative to earthquake sequences observed before eruptions in 1975 and 1984."

So my layperson opinion is there are indications of magma intrusion but nothing worrying right now, but something is going on.

Many years ago I remember reading that geologists believed the eruptions at Kilauea and Mauna Loa were not connected, but also remember reading that the 2002 Mother's Day flow from Kilauea made them think that possibly the plumbing between the two volcanoes was actually connected in some way. I'll see if I can find something that suggests this isn't a figment of my imagination...

[TomK]

So I'm not in fairy land...

http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanowatch/arch...01_23.html

"A recent observation revives the questions about the relationship, if any, between the two volcanoes. Continuously recording monitoring instruments allowed us to measure last year's onset of inflation on Mauna Loa at an unprecedented level of detail. We observed that the inflation most probably started on May 12 - the same date that a high-volume lava flow started from a new vent on the flank of Pu`u `O`o cone on Kilauea (the "Mother's Day" flow). If not purely coincidental, the temporal correlation between these events suggests some interaction between the magma systems of Mauna Loa and Kilauea."

[Hunt Stoddard]

"According to this article, if Mauna Loa does erupt, Kilauea may stop:"

Thank God for that. For a minute, you had me worried.

[Midnight Rambler]

When Mauna Loa does erupt, it will probably be from the southwest rift zone, which has been quiet since 1950. And remember what happened last time it erupted there - the flow overran houses and cut Highway 11 within 3 hours of starting (in the middle of the night).
http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/maunaloa/history/50_06_01/

[Rob Tucker]

The Southwest slopes are very steep. Lava can move faster there.

[TomK]

"Thank God for that. For a minute, you had me worried."

Hunt - forgive me, but I don't understand your comment. Could you clarify?