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Next Mauna Loa eruption could be forecast months in advance

An analysis of crystals in lava from the 2022 eruption of Mauna Loa has revealed an unknown magma reservoir within the volcano, which could extend forecasts of eruptions from minutes to months

By James Dinneen

12 November 2024

Eruption of Mauna Loa on 8 December 2022

The eruption of Mauna Loa in December 2022

T. Orr, U.S. Geological Survey

It may be possible to forecast the next eruption of Hawai’i’s Mauna Loa – the world’s largest active volcano – more than two months in advance thanks to a new understanding of what triggers its eruptions.

“Hawai’i is often seen as this place in volcanology where it’s so well-studied we must know everything about it, but in the 2020s there are still things yet to be discovered,” says Kendra Lynn at the US Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

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