Scientists Lower Alert for Mauna Loa, Say Eruption Could End
Lava shoots up from a fissure of Mauna Loa Volcano as it erupts on Dec. 5.
Photographer: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
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Honolulu (AP) -- Scientists lowered the alert level for the Mauna Loa volcano on Hawaii's Big Island from a warning to a watch on Saturday and said the mountain's first eruption in nearly 40 years may soon end.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said in a bulletin that the eruption on the mountain's northeast rift zone was continuing, but lava output and volcanic gas emissions were “greatly reduced.”