Mauna Loa

Post Reply
User avatar
Phoebe
Posts: 4029
Joined: Thu Nov 26, 2020 2:57 pm

Mauna Loa

Post by Phoebe »

Eruption currently contained to summit caldera and surroundings, but who knows what happens next? Apparently one likely outcome is that after this summit eruption, things move about below and then a new flow emerges further down. Not sure how long that might take but it is so cool to see it happening: https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/observatorie ... ages/M.jpg
User avatar
Phoebe
Posts: 4029
Joined: Thu Nov 26, 2020 2:57 pm

Re: Mauna Loa

Post by Phoebe »

The lava is creeping down to the big road going straight across the island and Havoc will ensue if it is blocked and people can only go around the outside of the volcanoes to traverse the island. Hoping for them.
User avatar
poorpete
Posts: 3580
Joined: Wed Nov 25, 2020 2:59 pm

Re: Mauna Loa

Post by poorpete »

I don't usually root for a natural disaster -- hurricanes no thanks, tornadoes best if they never existed, blizzards are too much of a good thing. But volcanic eruptions are exciting AND important, and as long as everyone is safe and damage is small, it's pretty cool -- I guess I'm asking for volcanoes to act like a light pretty snowfall. Or a misty rain on a summer's day. Be cool, be good for the earth, be pretty, but be safe.

Natural disaster I'm most conflicted about are forest fires, which are terrifying and destructive but we're learning are important. But still, would rather not.
User avatar
Phoebe
Posts: 4029
Joined: Thu Nov 26, 2020 2:57 pm

Re: Mauna Loa

Post by Phoebe »

I've been reading some stories where people are interviewed about these lava flow concerns. Although they obviously would prefer to avoid serious inconvenience or destruction of homes and such, they also express such accepting attitudes about the inevitability of whatever the volcano chooses to do, and the overall celebration of its power despite the risks. It's very common to hear this expression of wanting to live in harmony with whatever the volcano does, even though for some people it can mean having to lose a home or completely reschedule your life because you can no longer get to work down that road, and so on.
It's not that they want these things, yet somehow they're accepted and part of a deeper respect for the volcano that to be honest as an outsider I try to understand but probably don't, at all. You can try to put yourself there in an approximate way but I honestly can't imagine it if that was my home or my job or whatever.
Post Reply