(BIVN) – January is Volcano Awareness Month on Hawaii Island and on Saturday, Jan. 13, the public is invited to talk about Mauna Loa with scientists and safety officials at UH-Hilo.

People can come and go at their leisure between noon and 3:00 p.m. to learn more about Mauna Loa at the University Classroom Building Room 127.

Sherry Bracken recently interviewed the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory’s Scientist-In-Charge, Tina Neal, about Earth’s largest active volcano. Neal said that although rates of deformation and seismicity on Mauna Loa remain above long-term background levels, rates are decreased from earlier in the year.

“Similar decreases have occurred in the past during the ongoing period of unrest,” the USGS reported on January 4, adding that “it is uncertain if these lower rates will persist or pick up again in the near future.”