Is Mauna Loa Awakening?

            Each day I look at the report of earthquakes on the Big Island issued by the United States Geological Observatory. It can be found at : http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/seismic/volcweb/earthquakes/. After 20 years of looking at that website it has become very noticeable that there are a lot more earthquakes on Mauna Loa than there used to be. Most of them are concentrated on the southwest rift zone and an the south flank of the volcano. Many of these earthquakes are deep-seated, usually indicative of molten magma pushing into cracks in the volcanic edifice. Magma when it reaches the surfaces loses gases and becomes lava.  In addition to the earthquakes, measurements of the deformation of the volcano indicate that magma is indeed pushing into cracks and deforming the volcano. This information is available at: http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/activity/maunaloastatus.php and http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/maunaloa/current/currentmonitoring.php.

            Does this mean that Mauna Loa is about to spring into action? After all, it hasn't erupted since 1984 and is overdue for an eruption. It has erupted 33 times in the last 170 years. At this time the earthquakes are smaller than those observed prior to the eruptions in 1975 and 1984. So while activity is occurring within the mass of the volcano, an eruption is not imminent. If, however, the magnitude and frequency of the earthquakes increase then we may experience an eruption. The question is not whether Mauna Loa will erupt, but when and where.