Talk:Mauna Loa

Semi-protected edit request on 9 July 2019
Update all volume and size text to reflect that Mauna Loa is once again viewed as the largest volcano. Also remove or edit the bit about the Tammu Massif as it has been discovered that it is not actually a volcano at all. Sources: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-019-0390-y

News Publication here as well: https://www.livescience.com/65897-largest-volcano-record.html Woofde (talk) 22:58, 9 July 2019 (UTC)
 * Red question icon with gradient background.svg Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. - FlightTime  ( open channel ) 18:47, 19 August 2019 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 17 August 2019
In the "Human History" section, "European Summiting Attempts" subsection, the fifth paragraph needs attention. The first sentence, "The next successful ascent was made on January 29, 1834, 40 years later, by the Scottish botanist..." looks like it was written before the preceding paragraph was added. Recommended: remove "40 years later" (especially as the 40-year gap is already mentioned once at the end of the third paragraph and again after the fifth).

Also in the fifth paragraph: change "...stayed overnight to make measurements of the summit caldera's proportions and record barometric data on its height, both now known to be widely inaccurate" to "...wildly inaccurate" (one gets the impression that's what the author meant).

Also in the fifth paragraph: change "several months later his body was mysteriously discovered crushed in a pit besides a dead wild boar" to "...his body was discovered mysteriously crushed in a pit beside a dead wild boar" (note both placement of the word "mysteriously" and replacement of "besides" with "beside").

Great article! 2603:3004:6B4:7000:3C9D:D9B8:9BC:C6AF (talk) 17:59, 17 August 2019 (UTC)
 * Yes check.svg Done --Trialpears (talk) 18:48, 18 August 2019 (UTC)

Puu Ki
In the Structure section reference to Puu Ki is missing, see Littoral cone, it is located southwest on Mauna Loa. Imho adding it to the paragraph already explaining Puu Ulaula should not hurt. Eventually linking to Littoral cone and adding Puu Ki as an external ref. --Cmuelle8 (talk) 21:25, 18 October 2020 (UTC)

There are lots of other summits on Mauna Loa unmentioned, see radius search around Puu Ki, but mentioning Puu Ki is of particular interest, because it is referenced in other articles, Topographic isolation and Littoral cone. --Cmuelle8 (talk) 22:12, 18 October 2020 (UTC)

WP:URFA/2020
I am reviewing this very old FA as part of WP:URFA/2020, an effort to determine whether old featured articles still meet the featured article criteria. A Featured article review is probably necessary here, unless someone can update the article. Sandy Georgia (Talk)  03:16, 18 December 2021 (UTC)
 * There is an inconsistent citation style, particularly with author names, but everything needs to be checked.
 * Not a high-quality source: "Mauna Loa, Hawaii". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved 12 December 2012.[self-published source?]
 * Who is this, what makes it high quality? John Seach. "Mauno Loa Volcano – John Seach". Retrieved 24 January 2013.
 * Excessive off-topic detail in Wilkes expedition.
 * Updating and checking throughout needed. As but one example, https://gml.noaa.gov/obop/mlo/ says that the Observatory is at 11,125 feet.  We link to a ten-year-old archive, and use a different number.  All older archived info should be checked as this FA is approaching two decades old.
 * Dead links: https://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/maunaloa/ Means I can't verify if this is still true from the source given: including 33 eruptions since the first well-documented eruption in 1843 BUt I did find that info here: https://www.usgs.gov/observatories/hvo/active-volcanoes-hawaii
 * Here's an entire paper on the 1880 eruption, plucked from the over 4,000 sources returned by google scholar since 2017 only; is anyone keeping this article updated?


 * I deleted the Seach source -- it seems like a self-published website and the person does not seem to be a trained volcanologist. The statements that used that particular website as a source also referenced other, higher quality sources so nothing lost removing it completely. I am hoping to look at some of these other issues raised here later as time permits during the holidays. Aoi (青い) (talk) 09:50, 18 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Thanks for taking this on! My list is samples only, and indicate a read-through of everything and check for newer sources might be called for. I can’t keep every URFA review watchlisted, so please ping me when you are ready for a new look. Sandy Georgia  (Talk)  15:10, 18 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Just leaving a note to acknowledge that I saw this. Thanks for pointing these issues out. I'm slowly going through the article sentence by sentence and source by source in my sandbox, though I probably lack the expertise to evaluate some of the more technical geophysical statements in the article. (Perhaps more significantly, I also am not familiar with the URFA process, so I appreciate your patience!) Thanks, Aoi (青い) (talk) 07:03, 21 December 2021 (UTC)

Checking back in; is this ready for a new look? Sandy Georgia (Talk)  03:07, 19 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Sorry for the delayed response, I just saw this message now. I've been gathering newer sources and doing some incremental work on working through the sources in my sandbox, but unfortunately my work schedule this year has meant that this project is slow-going. This is in the top 3 of my to-do list and appreciate your patience--I am hopeful I can make some meaningful progress on this in the next couple of months. Aoi (青い) (talk) 03:51, 26 July 2022 (UTC)

Hawaiian diacritics
There should be consistency in usage of the okina and kahako, no? I'm all for foregoing them entirely, or using them completely, but using them here and there inconsistently can't be the right approach. 2001:268:922C:3D45:6D17:28AC:FA32:635 (talk) 03:18, 2 December 2022 (UTC)

Better image
The current image is really low resolution and was taken almost 40 years ago, so it should be replaced. Any suggestions for replacement images? Mucube (talk • contribs) 18:53, 19 April 2023 (UTC)


 * This site may be a good place to start looking for public domain photos. I personally like this image from November 2022, which shows recently active fissures on the volcano's southwestern rift zone with a somewhat clear view of the summit caldera in the background. Aoi (青い) (talk) 19:24, 19 April 2023 (UTC)
 * That looks like a nice photo but for the photo at the top we would probably want one that shows the entire mountain, like the one we have now, but more high quality. Mucube (talk • contribs) 20:19, 20 April 2023 (UTC)
 * I agree that would be a better image. Unfortunately, I haven't seen a (relatively) high-res image similar to the one in the infobox currently (except this one, but the Mauna Kea cinder cones in the foreground are a bit distracting). There probably is a good image out there; I'll keep my eye out in case I see one. Aoi (青い) (talk) 21:07, 20 April 2023 (UTC)
 * There may also be candidates in c:Category:Remote views of Mauna Loa. Aoi (青い) (talk) 21:11, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

Largest Volcano (reopened)
Given this is a good article and noting previous issues I have marked obsolete one source in lead. The USGS has it right when it (? now) says it is the largest active volcano. Mauna Loa Can I suggest once sources and evidence is examined by others that the introduction sentence that reads "The largest subaerial volcano (as opposed to subaqueous volcanoes) in both mass and volume, Mauna Loa was historically considered to be the largest volcano on Earth until Tamu Massif was discovered to be larger" be changed to read " The largest active volcano on Earth, Mauna Loa was historically considered to be the largest on Earth until the inactive Pūhāhonu and Tamu Massif were discovered to be larger." The current reference 1 of the article should be updated as it is inaccurate as to title now but the article clicked through to is accurate as it has I assume by difference in title wording been updated.

It is no longer the largest (although it is the tallest) subaerial shield volcano - see Essentially the problem is one of obsolete source and failure to update article given this new knowledge. I can not identify any academic rebuttal. An issue that might arise on further study is whether Pūhāhonu is more than one volcano, but that issue is considered by the authors. ChaseKiwi (talk) 01:20, 18 December 2023 (UTC)
 * When I detected another outdated source in first two paragraphs of lead causing a now false statement and noticed other source issues at beginning of article I have at least corrected lead to read accurately and updated the USGS reference to its new title. I have not dealt with all other reference style issues such as capitals for titles of the Alert bulletins. I have not checked for obsolete statements in bulk of article outside the issues brought up in the lead.ChaseKiwi (talk) 09:34, 19 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Article shows no evidence of being actively monitored by others so have updated incorrect text of article but not removed obsolete references and dead links that would need a rework if article's good article status was comprehensively reviewed. Think some if not all references in lead could be removed now myself in such a rework as appear to be in text. ChaseKiwi (talk) 12:01, 24 December 2023 (UTC)