Maunaloa Update & Lava Lake History, April 30, 2021

Earthquakes quiet down near Maunaloa summit during this past week, while minor flank seismicity increases. At the same time, the summit GPS line appears to revert back to slight contraction, consistent with the recent cycles of summit filling and flank spreading that slowly build towards a future, not imminent, eruption. As a bonus feature, this week we review the April 1872 to October 1873 summit eruption of Maunaloa, including descriptions of its longest known lava lake, as well as a brief foray into the nature of its summit eruptions and associated lava lakes, with some video footage from the 1930ʻs. We incorporate photos, video, and monitoring data available courtesy of the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, before addressing live viewer questions as usual. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd8rH-zL4Ug