The future of Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano is written in the Big Island’s past

Looming above Kilauea’s glowing lava rivers and explosions of ash, is the most massive mountain on Earth. Measured from its deep ocean base, the Mauna Loa volcano is taller than Mount Everest. It takes up over half of the Big Island. 

And it’s an omen of what’s to come for Kilauea. 

Hawaii’s currently erupting and youngest volcano, Kilauea, peers up at Mauna Loa from some 9,000 feet below. Its latest bursts of lava, which started in early May and have since rumbled through neighborhoods, remind us that Kilauea is next in line to become a dominant presence on the Big Island, like Mauna Loa.

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