As of 4:45pm on Thursday, December 8, 2022 HVO reports that the Northeast Rift Zone eruption of Mauna Loa continues with one active fissure (fissure 3) feeding lava downslope.

Fissure 3 vent continues to erupt but the supply of lava was reduced Thursday morning. Lava was overtopping channels near the vent with flows extending no farther than 2.75 mi from the vent as of approximately 9:30 a.m. on December 8. The channels below this point appear drained of lava and probably no longer feed the main flow front, which remains stalled about 1.7 mi from the Daniel K. Inouye Highway.  The lava flow is now inactive for most of its lower length, but the flow front may appear to advance a little as it settles.

Sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission rates of approximately 130,000 tonnes per day (t/d) were measured on December 7, 2022, and remain elevated at this time. Volcanic gas is rising high and vertically into the atmosphere before being blown to the west at high altitude, generating vog (volcanic air pollution) in areas downwind. Pele’s hair (strands of volcanic glass) fragments are being wafted great distances and have been reported as far Honoka‘a.

Tremor continues beneath the currently active fissure which indicates that magma is still being supplied to the fissure, and activity is likely to continue as long as we see this signal.

There is no active lava within Moku’āweoweo caldera nor the Southwest Rift Zone. HVO does not expect any eruptive activity outside the Northeast Rift Zone.

The most recent eruption map can be viewed at https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/most-recent-mauna-loa-northeast-rift-zone-eruption-map