That concern is a real one, as AP reported last night that the highway was “jammed” by hundreds of cars stopped alongside to catch a glimpse of the light show before the road was officially closed.
And who could blame the gawkers with a view like this? Lava fountains were measured at more than 100 feet on Sunday. Yesterday, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reported 148-foot-high lava fountains from the Northeast Rift Zone of Mauna Loa, and shared footage that shows how a particular type of lava flow, called an ‘a’ā flow, crawls slowly along the surface while dropping blocks of cooled lava known as clinkers.
“It’s a thrill,” Kathryn Tarananda, a Hawaii resident who “set two alarms” to catch a view of the eruption against the sunrise, told AP. “We’re out in the middle of raw nature. It’s awe-inspiring that we live in this place. … I feel really, really fortunate to be an islander.”
Despite the beauty at play here, there are real dangers from all volcanic eruptions, including this one. Lava has already crossed another important roadway, the one leading to Mauna Loa Observatory, which is now without power and inaccessible. That observatory conducts continuous atmospheric carbon measurements—an important tool in heading off the climate crisis.
Speaking to CNN, Ralph Keeling, a geoscientist at the University of California, San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, said, “It’s a big deal. This is the central record of the present understanding of the climate problem.”
And of course, ash, gas, and airborne volcanic glass (called Pele’s hair, after the Hawaiian volcano goddess) all pose hazards to the health of those living nearby or downwind. Paired with COVID-19—active infections and the lingering aftereffects—airborne ash could present serious health issues for elderly, disabled, and immunocompromised people. Hawaii’s health department has warned those on the island about “vog conditions, ash in the air, and levels of sulfur dioxide to increase and fluctuate in various areas of the state.”
For those of us who can’t see the eruption in person, Twitter is still (inexplicably, blissfully) useful. Here are a few photos:
This one is from the same highway that is currently endangered:
