My students are interested in finding out more about Loihi. Will it become another island? How high is it now? When will it come above water? What does Loihi mean?

rocky Kathleen L. Moretti

Hi Kathleen,

Lo'ihi means "long one", a reference to its elongate shape. For a 3-d image, check out the Hawii Undersea Geological Observatory (HUGO) home at:

http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/HUGO/hugo.html .

Right now, the summit of Lo'ihi is about 970 meters below sea level. It is growing on the lower flanks of its two neighbors, Kilauea and Mauna Loa, with its base at a depth of about 4000 meters below sea level, so you can say that Lo'ihi itself is about 3000 m high. We don't really know when it will reach the surface or even if it will. There is an underwater volcano off the NW coast of the big island of Hawai'i named Mahukona, and there is debate about whether it ever grew above sea level, or died out prior to doing so. The most often-heard time required for Lo'ihi to reach sea level is about 10,000 years, but that is really only a guess. It might be 30,000 years for all we know. It is far enough away from the coastline of Hawai'i that I imagine that at first it will be a separate island when it breaks the surface. As it grows (and especially if Kilauea and Mauna Loa are still erupting) it will soon be joined to the island.

I hope that helps.

Sincerely,

Scott Rowland 

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