By Wyatt Carvalho
November 27th, just 2 days after Thanksgiving, Mauna Loa, Hawaii’s biggest volcano erupted. The last time Mauna Loa erupted was in 1984, almost 40 years before the next eruption. Mauna Loa is located on Hawaii’s Big Island, or Hawai’i, which has a population of about 201,000 people. This poses a huge threat to the island, as the fissures have started erupting, and have been slowly making their way to civilization.
Mauna Loa’s Fissure 4 is still active, with lava flowing northeast at around 0.004 mph. Gas fumes are rising into the air, entering the atmosphere. Shards of volcanic glass are being spread around the island as well. This poses a huge threat to the island’s inhabitants. While the lava has been predicted to not hit any public buildings, it has been creeping closer to the Daniel K. Inouye highway this month. The flow closest to the volcano has appeared to calm down, but the front flow has continued to move inch by inch.
Tremor, which is the signal associated with the fissures lava supply, has been continuing below the surface. This means that lava will continue to flow under the surface, which may or may not rise up. Eruptions are not expected outside of the Northeast rift zone, which means that the lava flow will mainly be pushed in 1 direction. While it may not cause huge property damage, the ash and glasses could cause damage to the people of Hawaii.
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