it s bubbly, soft. you can break it in your hand. reporter: researchers here quickly churning out data to help the usgs chart where the lava flow might be heading, especially as it s inching closer to crossing saddle road, a major highway connecting the east and west of the big island. they warn the slower pace is deceptive at times. it might look like a big wall of hot rock and it doesn t look like it s moving much, but they can surge where all of a sudden the front breaks off and lava comes spewing out. reporter: dangerous perhaps, but for c.j. an eruption is never destructive. at what point does it become destruction? putting a house in the way? i lost property during the 2018 eruption. i had many friends that lost properties. my mom lost ta house. we don t view it as loss. we view it as borrowed time. reporter: speaking of time,
expert lava junkies if you will. usgs scientists in protective gear collecting samples of the lava and bringing them here. we put them in the drying oven. reporter: the university of hawaii at hilo is helping run the rapid response lab for the mauna loa eruption. we got a rare look inside. these samples collected since the lava started spewing. it was thrown up in the air and landed and was they scooped it up while it was still molten and quenched it and if you look at it you ll see it is very, very bubbly, soft. like you can break it in your hand. reporter: researchers here quickly turning out data to help the usgs chart where the lava flow might be heading especially as it is inching closer to crossing saddle road, a major highway connecting east and west of the big island. they warn the slower pace is deceptive at times. it might look like a big wall of hot rock and it doesn t look like it is moving much but they
it s very, very bubbly, soft. you can break it in your hand. carbon and oxygen. reporter: researchers quickly turning out data to help chart where the lava flow might be heading, especially as it s inching closer to crossing saddle road, a major highway crossing the big island. they warn the pace is slow at times. all of a sudden the front breaks off and lava comes spewing out. reporter: dangerous perhaps but an eruption is never destructive. at what point does it become destructive? when you put a house in the way. my mom lost a house, friends lost a house. we don t view it as lost. we view it as borrowed time. reporter: speaking of time, sun s up and our view, still
quickly turning out data to help the usgs chart where the lava flow might be heading, especially as it s inching closer to crossing saddle road, a major highway connecting the east and west of the big island. they warn the slower pace, deceptive at times. it might just look like a big wall of hot rock and it doesn t look like it s moving much, bthy can rsurge. dangerous, perhaps. but for c.j., an eruption is never destructive. at what point does it become destruction, when we put a house in the way? you can t do that. i lost property during the 2018 eruption, i have many friends that lost properties, my mom lost a house. we don t view it as loss. we view it as borrowed time. reporter: speaking of time, the sun is up and our view is still this. does it feel like a washout when you get to this point and suddenly there s nothing? do you feel disappointment? you know, it s all part of
this. does it feel like a washout when you get to this point and suddenly there s nothing? do you feel disappointment? you know, it s always part of the journey. if every single time we turned up it was absolutely amazing, it wouldn t be as special as it is on the days it is amazing. i wish we could see that picture perfect view at this hour, poppy, but we have cold rain. it has stalled meaning it s no longer an imminent threat to the highway but scientists warn, poppy, this could change over a matter of hours and the eruption is still going. might have to open the hawaii bureau, david culver. lava watch. a huge shake-up in the senate just as democrats were celebrating gaining nor seat. ahead r.j. tapper joins us with his exclusive interview with senator kirsten sinema. d fuel tt comes next.