Scientists lower alert over Hawaii’s Mauna Loa volcano

Mauna Loa in Hawaii, the world’s largest volcano, continues to erupt but scientists say lava is no longer feeding the flow front that has been creeping towards a crucial highway (US Geological Survey/AP)

Scientists have lowered the alert level for the Mauna Loa volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island from a warning to a watch, and said the mountain’s first eruption in nearly 40 years may soon end.

The US Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said in a bulletin that the eruption on the mountain’s north-east rift zone is continuing, but lava output and volcanic gas emissions are “greatly reduced”.