Monday, December 05, 2022

WATCH: U.S. Geological Survey adds livestream, new webcam views of Hawaii's Mauna Loa eruption

Image of a webcam deployed to monitor the Northeast Rift Zone eruption of Mauna Loa. Photo courtesy of K. Mulliken/USGS

Dec. 3 (UPI) -- The U.S. Geological Survey on Saturday announced that it has added several new webcam views and a livestream of the eruption of Hawaii's Mauna Loa volcano.

Mauna Loa, one of the five volcanoes that form Hawaii's Big Island, began erupting on Monday for the first time in 38 years.

The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, a division of the USGS, said in a statement Saturday that it had added the webcams which can be viewed online.

At the time of publication on Saturday, the livestream showed lava erupting from Fissure 3 on the northeast rift zone of the volcano.

RELATED Lava from Hawaii's Mauna Loa volcano eruption flows out of rift zone

The camera is located east of the fissure and looks west.



"The webcams are operational 24/7 and faithfully record the dark of night if there are no sources of incandescence or other lights," the USGS said in a disclaimer with the livestream on YouTube.

"Thermal webcams record heat rather than light and get better views through volcanic gas. At times, clouds and rain obscure visibility."

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The USGS said in a statement Saturday evening that there has been "little change" in the eruption over the past 24 hours.

"Fissure 3 is generating a lava flow traveling to the north toward the Daniel K. Inouye Highway (Saddle Road) that has reached relatively flatter ground and slowed down significantly over the past several days, as expected," the statement reads.

Fragments of Pele's hair, which are strands of volcanic glass, have been wafted great distances and have been reported as far Laupāhoehoe.

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