Measurements at the Mauna Loa Observatory stopped after the 2022 eruption of the Mauna Loa volcano, when lava flow crossed the access road and took out power lines to the facility. The observatory remains inaccessible by vehicle and without power from the local utility company.
Observatory staff has established limited solar power in four observatory buildings and restored approximately 33 percent of the measurements onsite, including the Global Monitoring Laboratory and Scripps critical CO2 records and other atmospheric measurements.
Media can contact: Theo Stein (303) 819-7409 (theo.stein@noaa.gov) or Karin Vergoth 303-632-6413 (karin.vergoth@noaa.gov)
General Information
Weekly ozonesondes are released from the balloon launch facility shared with the National Weather Service. From these sounding are obtained profiles of temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, and ozone concentrations from sea level to 35 km altitude. This site is also the location for the MLO measurements of both wet and dry precipitation for the Hilo area. Hilo may have up to 200 inches (500 cm) of precipitation per year whereas the mountain site may have only 10% or less of that amount.
GPS Information
| Latitude: | 19.72° N |
| Longitude: | 155.07° W |
| Elevation: | 11m(36ft) |
| Time Zone: | HST(-10 GMT) |