(BIVN) – The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory recently visited the summit area of Mauna Loa volcano to do monitoring network maintenance. 

On August 12, field engineers made their way to the summit to upgrade and install new monitoring webcams, change batteries, install new antennas, and replace solar panels that had been damaged during winter storms. Photos of the journey were shared on the HVO website. 

The USGS says the telemetry network on Mauna Loa was upgraded in order to accommodate new webcams around the summit and upper Southwest Rift Zone. 

USGS: “A USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory field engineer updates the infrastructure at a remote station in the summit region of Mauna Loa. At this location, two webcams (MOcam and SPcam) were upgraded and a new thermal webcam, the MSTcam, was installed on Mauna Loa summit.” (USGS photo by M. Patrick)

Mauna Loa is not erupting, and the massive Hawaiʻi island volcano has been relatively quiet over the past month. 

Last week, the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory issued its monthly Mauna Loa update. Scientists reported a 34% percent increase in seismicity over the previous month. 

The Observatory said earthquake clustering under Mauna Loa’s upper-Southwest Rift Zone dissipated this month, but there was an increase in small events, dispersed deeper under the volcano. 

An ahu (cairn) marks the south end of Mokuʻāweoweo, the caldera at the summit of Mauna Loa. This photo shows the cone that formed during the Mauna Loa summit eruption in 1949, in the upper right. Most eruptions of Mauna Loa over the past several hundred years have started within the summit region, and about half have migrated into one of Mauna Loa’s two rift zones from there. USGS photo by Matt Patrick.

From the USGS website:

Mauna Loa is among Earth’s most active volcanoes, having erupted 34 times since its first well-documented historical eruption in 1843. It has produced large, voluminous flows of basalt that have reached the ocean eight times since 1868. During the 1984 eruption, a lava flow came within 7.2 km (4.5 mi) of Hilo, the largest population center on the island. During the most recent eruption, in 2022, lava flows came to within 1.7 miles (2.8 kilometers) of the Daniel K. Inouye Highway (Saddle Road). Mauna Loa is certain to erupt again, and with such a propensity to produce large flows, we carefully monitor the volcano for signs of unrest.