Volcano Watch — Celebrating colossal Mauna Loa with a "Hi-yo, Silver!"

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The 22-day eruption, which began on March 25, 1984, generated much excitement and anxiety. Its beautiful fountains and long `a`a flows sent lava to within 4 miles (6.5 km) from the outskirts of Hilo. In reviewing the past, one can't help but compare Mauna Loa, the largest volcano in the world, to its small, but highly admired neighbor Kīlauea, now in its 27th year of nearly continuous eruption.

At 13,680 ft (4,170 m), lone Mauna Loa towers above Kīlauea—about 3 times as tall when measured from their respective submarine bases to their summits. After the roughly 3-week 1984 eruption was over, Mauna Loa had erupted more than 20 times the amount of lava that Kīlauea would produce for a similar period.

Will the much larger Mauna Loa also dwarf Kīlauea in the creation of vog? The production of SO₂ gas by Kīlauea has created chronic air quality problems for downwind Hawai`i Island communities, and vog-related losses have resulted in a U.S. Department of Agriculture-approved Secretarial Disaster Declaration for Hawai`i Island farmers.

An eruption of Mauna Loa will generate plenty of vog-forming volcanic gases and particles. The amount of SO₂ gas released (the main culprit in the formation of vog) will be commensurate with the intensity of the eruption. During the 1984 eruption, a satellite-based instrument tracked the Mauna Loa SO₂ plume for 15 days and measured between 130 and 190 million tons of SO₂, an amount equivalent to about 50 days of SO₂ emissions from Kīlauea at the average 2008 rate.

The effects of vog on populated areas will, however, be influenced by Mauna Loa's great height. Much of the volcano soars above the trade-wind inversion, a layer of warm air that overlies the cooler air below it. This layer, which is present about 82 percent of the time, occurs at an average altitude of 2,255 m (7,400 ft) around Hilo. The exact height of the inversion layer is controlled by time of day, season, precise location, and a variety of climatic effects.

The inversion layer acts like a lid and keeps the cooler, denser air and lower local pollutants below it. When vents below the inversion layer erupt—such as the summit, east rift zone vents, and ocean entries on Kīlauea—the emissions are trapped below and are likely to affect downwind populated areas. Emissions from eruptive activity above the trade-wind inversion—such as the summit and upper flanks of Mauna Loa—will likely stay aloft during the day but could be carried by downslope winds at night and impact lower-elevation communities.

For example in 1984, satellite sensors tracked the sulfur dioxide eruption cloud as it first moved to the north and later to the southwest; it appeared to stay above the inversion layer. As far as we know, no one living below the inversion layer reported unusual gas levels during the eruption.

The short duration of Mauna Loa eruptions in the past 160 years suggests that periods of eruption-produced poor air quality would persist for days to weeks, rather than years, as with the current Kīlauea eruption. Because typical Mauna Loa eruption rates have historically been 6-24 times those of Kīlauea, and because gas emissions are generally proportional to eruption rates, those limited periods of extremely poor air quality could be quite intense.

As we wish the 1984 eruption a happy anniversary, let's hope that the next Mauna Loa eruption is equally spectacular, equally brief, and somewhere above the inversion layer. More information on Mauna Loa's anniversary activities, with her faithful companions in volcano monitoring and emergency management, can be found at http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov. "Hi-yo, Silver, away!"

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Volcano Activity Update

The Waikupanaha and Kupapa`u ocean entries remain active. Surface flows over the past week have broadened the Kupapa`u delta, which now extends along the coastline for about 1 km (0.6 miles). A deflation/inflation (DI) event at Kīlauea's summit (ongoing as of Thursday, April 2) has begun to disrupt the supply of lava through the TEB tube system.

At Kīlauea's summit, the vent within Halema`uma`u Crater continues to emit elevated amounts of sulfur dioxide gas, resulting in high concentrations of sulfur dioxide downwind. The active lava pond in the vent, visible only with a thermal camera, remains more than 90 m (100 yds) below the vent rim.

Visit our Web site for detailed Kīlauea and Mauna Loa activity updates, recent volcano photos, recent earthquakes, and more; call (808) 967-8862 for a Kīlauea summary; email questions to askHVO@usgs.gov.