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Research about Mauna Loa Volcano

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including Mauna Loa Volcano.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2024

Geologic map of the northwest flank of Mauna Loa volcano, Island of Hawai‘i, Hawaii

Mauna Loa, the largest active volcano on Earth, has erupted 34 times since written descriptions became available in A.D. 1832. The most recent eruption of Mauna Loa occurred on November 27, 2022, after a 38 year hiatus; it lasted for 12 days. Some eruptions began with only brief seismic unrest, whereas others followed several months to a year of increased seismicity. Once underway, Mauna Loa’s eruptions can produce lava flows that may reach the sea in less than 24 hours, severing roads and utilities. For example, lava flows that erupted from the Southwest Rift Zone in 1950 advanced at an average rate of 9.3 kilometers per hour (5.8 miles per hour); all three lobes reached the ocean within ~24 hours. Near the eruptive vents, the flows likely traveled even faster. In terms of eruption frequency, pre-eruption warning, and rapid flow emplacement, Mauna Loa has great volcanic-hazard potential for the Island of Hawai‘i. Volcanic hazards on Mauna Loa can be anticipated, and risk substantially mitigated, by documenting its past activity to refine our knowledge of the hazards, and by alerting the public and local government officials of our findings and their implications for hazards assessments and risk. The map of the north and west flanks of Mauna Loa shows the distribution and relation of volcanic and surficial sedimentary deposits. It incorporates previously reported work published as generalized small-scale maps and a more detailed map. Within the mapped area, lava has flowed from three different source regions: the Northeast Rift Zone (22 percent), the summit (64 percent), and radial vents (14 percent). All three have different points of origin which, in turn, affect the flow characteristics and periodicity of activity. The map area includes the uppermost part of the NERZ and extends from the highest elevation––13,040 feet at the south end of the Kokoolau quadrangle, just below the summit caldera––to the sea northwest and west of the summit. Lava that erupts from the north and west flanks typically flows to the west, northwest, or north, depending on the vent location. Both morphologic lava flow types—‘a‘ā and pāhoehoe—are present. Pāhoehoe units tend to spread out or widen in low-slope regions, such as in the saddle regions between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea or between Mauna Loa and Hualālai. In comparison, ʻaʻā flows generally produce narrower flow lobes that have higher relief. This map is the fifth in a series of five maps that will cover Mauna Loa volcano. NOTE: Map sheet 1 contains lines and type with overprint. This feature may be turned on or off in the Adobe Acrobat page display preferences.

Hawaii↗
USGS2023

VogCast: A framework for modeling volcanic air pollution and its application to the 2022 eruption of Mauna Loa Volcano, Hawai'i

Volcanic activity and the associated gas emissions into the atmosphere often result in adverse air quality conditions and present a hazard to human health and the environment. Building on a decade-long effort to provide operational surface sulfur dioxide and sulfate aerosol forecasts for the State of Hawai'i, we present an air quality modeling framework called VogCast. VogCast is designed to simplify ensemble air quality prediction on a regional scale by linking together multiple state-of-the-art models of meteorology, emissions, and dispersion. The framework is open-source and introduces a new dynamic plume-rise algorithm for distributing pollutants vertically. Using radar and satellite data, we demonstrate that VogCast reasonably captured the mean injection height, the location, and the general envelope of the vog plume during Mauna Loa's 2022 eruption. The results suggest that during the 12-day eruption period model performance varied between days with trade and non-trade wind conditions. Our findings also highlight the importance of sulfur dioxide emission rate and vent parameter inputs for improving forecast accuracy. The broad goal of this work is to better our understanding of vog dispersion and improve air quality prediction for impacted communities.

Hawaii↗
USGS2019

Geologic map of the central-southeast flank of Mauna Loa Volcano, Island of Hawaii, Hawaii

Mauna Loa, the largest volcano on Earth, has erupted 33 times since written descriptions became available in 1832. Some eruptions began with only brief seismic unrest, while others followed several months to a year of increased seismicity. Once underway, its eruptions can produce lava flows that may reach the sea in less than 24 hours, severing roads and utilities. For example, lava flows erupted from the Southwest Rift Zone (SWRZ) in 1950 advanced at an average rate of 9.3 km per hour, and all three lobes reached the ocean within approximately 24 hours (Finch and Macdonald, 1953). Near the eruptive vents, the flows must have traveled even faster. In terms of eruption frequency, pre-eruption warning, and rapid flow emplacement, Mauna Loa poses an enormous volcanic-hazard threat to the Island of Hawai‘i. Volcanic hazards on Mauna Loa may be anticipated, and risk substantially mitigated, by documenting the past activity to refine our knowledge of the hazards and by alerting the public and local government officials of our findings and their implications for hazards assessments and risk. From the geologic record, we may deduce several generalized facts about the geologic history of the Northeast Rift Zone (NERZ). The middle to uppermost segments of the rift zone were more active in the past 4,000 years than the lower portion of the rift zone. This may be due to buttressing of the lower east rift zone by Mauna Kea and Kīlauea volcanoes. The historical flows that erupted on the north side of the rift zone advanced toward Hilo. This flank of the volcano may be more vulnerable to inundation. Lockwood (1990) noted that the vents of historical activity are migrating to the south. The volcano appears to have a self-regulating mechanism that evenly distributes long-term activity across its flanks. The geologic record also supports this notion; the time prior to the historical period (Age Group 1, pre-A.D. 1832 to 1,000 yrs B.P.; orange units) is dominated by activity on the south side of the NERZ. Although most Mauna Loa eruptions begin in the summit area at the 12,000-ft elevation (Lockwood and Lipman, 1987), the central-southeast flank has not been the source of any activity. All flows originated from the summit or the upper reaches of the Northeast Rift Zone (NERZ) or the Southwest Rift Zone (SWRZ). The NERZ was the source of eight flank eruptions since 1843. The NERZ extends from the 13,680-ft-high summit towards Hilo (population ~60,000; second-largest city in State of Hawaii). The northern portion of the map area is built entirely on flows erupted from the NERZ. The SWRZ extends from the summit towards Kalae (South Point) at sea level. The southern portion of the map area is built entirely on flows erupted from the SWRZ. The map area extends from the 10,350 -ft elevation on Mauna Loa’s east flank toward the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and the town of Volcano (population approx. 2,000) in the northeast. At the south boundary of the map area is the town of Pāhala (population approx. 900). This map includes areas adjacent to and downslope of the NERZ and regions east of and directly downslope of Moku‘āweoweo, Mauna Loa’s summit caldera. The map encompasses 506 km 2 of the southeast flank (fig. 1) of Mauna Loa from 10,350 -ft elevation to sea level. The map of the central-southeast flank of Mauna Loa shows the distribution and relations of volcanic and surficial sedimentary deposits separated into 15 age groups ranging from a period greater than 50,000 yr B.P. to A.D. 1984. It incorporates previously reported work published in generalized small-scale maps (Lockwood and Lipman, 1987; Lockwood, 1995; Wolfe and Morris, 1996). This map is the second in a series of five maps that will cover Mauna Loa volcano. See SIM 2932-A at https://doi.org/10.3133/sim2932A . NOTE: Map sheet 1 contains lines and type with overprint. This feature may be turned on or off in the Adobe Acrobat page display preferences.

Hawaii↗
USGS2005

Prevalence of pox-like lesions and malaria in forest bird communitites on leeward Mauna Loa volcano, Hawaii

Introduced avian pox virus and malaria have had devastating impacts on native Hawaiian forest birds, yet little has been published about their prevalence and distribution in forest bird communities outside of windward Hawaii Island. We surveyed native and non-native forest birds for these two diseases at three different elevations on leeward Mauna Loa Volcano at the Kona Forest Unit of Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge. Prevalence of malaria by both serology and microscopy varied by elevation and ranged from 28% at 710 m to 13% at 1830 m. Prevalence of pox-like lesions also varied by altitude, ranging in native species from 10% at 710 m to 2% at 1830 m. Native species at all elevations had the highest prevalence of malarial antibody and pox-like lesions. By contrast, pox-like lesions were not detected in individuals of four non-native species and only 5% of Japanese White-eye ( Zosterops japonicus ) was positive for malaria. A significantly high proportion of birds with pox-like lesions also had serological evidence of concurrent, chronic malarial infections, suggesting an interaction between these diseases, dual transmission of both diseases by the primary mosquito vector ( Culex quinquefasciatus ) or complete recovery of some pox-infected birds without loss of toes. Results from this study document high prevalence of malaria and pox at this refuge. Development of effective disease control strategies will be important for restoration of remnant populations of the endangered ‘Akiapola‘au ( Hemignathus munroi ), Hawaii Creeper ( Oreomystis mana ), and Hawaii ‘Akepa ( Loxops coccineus coccineus ) that still occur on the refuge.

Hawai'i↗
USGS1994

Bathymetry of the southwest flank of Mauna Loa Volcano, Hawaii

Much of the seafloor topography in the map area is on the southwest submarine flank of the currently active Mauna Loa Volcano. The benches and blocky hills shown on the map were shaped by giant landslides that resulted from instability of the rapidly growing volcano. These landslides were imagined during a 1986 to 1991 swath sonar program of the United States Hawaiian Exclusive Economic Zone, a cooperative venture by the U.S. Geological Survey and the British Institute of Oceanographic Sciences (Lipman and others, 1988; Moore and others, 1989). Dana Seamount (and probably also the neighboring Day Seamount) are apparently Cretaceous in age, based on paleomagnetic studies, and predate the growth of the Hawaiian Ridge volcanoes (Sager and Pringle, 1990).

Hawai'i↗