Mauna Loa

Active volcano on the Pacific island of Hawaii, rising to a height of 4,169 m/13,678 ft. Its summit is 17,000 m/56,000 ft from its base on the ocean floor, making it the world's biggest volcano. It has numerous craters, including the second-largest active crater in the world. Since the early 19th century there have been lava flows from the crater covering about half the island of Hawaii; averaging one eruption every 31/2 years, it is considered an effusive, rather than an explosive, volcano, with eruptions along fissures in its flank as well as in its central crater.