New USGS Data Release featuring Mauna Loa webcam imagery

The 2022 eruption of Mauna Loa volcano, Island of Hawaiʻi, was the first eruption on the volcano since 1984, producing a 17 km lava flow that threatened a major highway.  The eruption began with lava fountaining in the summit caldera (Mokuʻāweoweo) at 23:21 HST on November 27, transitioning to vents on the Northeast Rift Zone (NERZ) by the next morning.  The dominant vent on the NERZ—fissure 3—was active for about 13 days, sending a lava flow to the north that stalled within 3 km of Daniel K. Inouye Highway.  The eruption ended on December 10, having covered a section of the Mauna Loa Observatory Road but otherwise causing no major damage.

During the eruption, the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) used nearly two dozen field-situated cameras to monitor and document the activity.  Several of these cameras were permanent and had been installed prior to the eruption, while others were deployed in the opening days of the eruption.  We used two main types of cameras.  First, we deployed “timelapse” cameras around the eruption site.  These cameras did not telemeter their images and simply saved the data onto internal SD cards, requiring later retrieval.  Although not effective for real-time monitoring, these cameras are very compact and portable, providing excellent data for later research.  Second, we used several “webcams”, which telemetered their images back to HVO in real time.  One of these webcams was a permanent thermal camera at the summit of Mauna Loa.  Several other webcams were portable cellular trail cameras deployed during the eruption.  The camera deployment built upon responses to recent eruptions at neighboring Kīlauea volcano.

In this data release, we provide images from the timelapse cameras and webcams used to monitor the 2022 eruption of Mauna Loa.  These data should be valuable for understanding the eruption dynamics and integrating with other monitoring data, such as seismic tremor.   

New Data Release reference: 

Patrick, M.R., Zoeller, M.H., Trusdell, F.A., Kamibayashi, K., Swaney, S., Warren, S.M., Tollett, W., Hoomanawanui, T., Dietterich, H., and Desmither, L., 2024, Timelapse and webcam images of the 2022 eruption of Mauna Loa, Island of Hawaiʻi: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P149BRTT.