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Volcano Watch

Volcano Watch is a weekly article and activity update written by U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists and affiliates. 

Filter Total Items: 1680
Volcano Watch — Innovative Monitoring of Kīlauea’s Summit Water Lake

Volcano Watch — Innovative Monitoring of Kīlauea’s Summit Water Lake

Famous for glowing red lava and billowing volcanic plumes, Halema‘uma‘u has long inspired poets, painters and photographers to find meaning in the...

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Volcano Watch — Seismic Swarms and Sulfur Smells: What is Happening at Kīlauea Volcano?

Volcano Watch — Seismic Swarms and Sulfur Smells: What is Happening at Kīlauea Volcano?

On the evening of Thursday, October 22nd, people living near the summit of Kīlauea Volcano began to feel a series of earthquakes.  They were small...

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Volcano Watch — Charcoal, a game changer for understanding processes in young volcanic terraines

Volcano Watch — Charcoal, a game changer for understanding processes in young volcanic terraines

One of the fundamental premises of geology is that the "key to understanding the future is to understand the past."  In order to forecast how a...

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Volcano Watch — Crack team of geologists measure the Koa‘e fault system

Volcano Watch — Crack team of geologists measure the Koa‘e fault system

The Koa‘e fault system connects Kīlauea’s East and Southwest Rift Zones south of the caldera. Faults here appear as low cliffs, or “scarps” along...

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Volcano Watch — Join the Statewide Earthquake Preparedness Drill on 10/15 at 10:15

Volcano Watch — Join the Statewide Earthquake Preparedness Drill on 10/15 at 10:15

Major earthquakes cannot be predicted. Successful earthquake predictions need to have three things correct: the location, the time, and the magnitude...

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Volcano Watch — That didn’t feel like a Magnitude-4? What do earthquake measurements mean?

Volcano Watch — That didn’t feel like a Magnitude-4? What do earthquake measurements mean?

Residents on the Island of Hawaiʻi are accustomed to feeling earthquakes. As the ground shaking subsides and the safety of everyone around is assured...

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Volcano Watch — HVO’s new website is more accessible and mobile-friendly

Volcano Watch — HVO’s new website is more accessible and mobile-friendly

You may have seen the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory’s “Caldera Chronicles” article about their new-and-improved website, in which they hint at a...

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Volcano Watch — HVO camera network reconfiguration and upgrades coming soon!

Volcano Watch — HVO camera network reconfiguration and upgrades coming soon!

Over the past two decades, the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) has set up a camera network system to monitor visual changes at Kīlauea and...

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Volcano Watch — On the surface of Kīlauea's new landscape, a story is told

Volcano Watch — On the surface of Kīlauea's new landscape, a story is told

Kīlauea's 2018 summit collapse dramatically transformed the geometry and appearance of Halema‘uma‘u crater and Kīlauea caldera. Last week's "Volcano...

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Volcano Watch — Underneath Kīlauea’s new landscape, the magma plumbing keeps working

Volcano Watch — Underneath Kīlauea’s new landscape, the magma plumbing keeps working

Last week, Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park was able to open the Kīlauea Overlook to the public for the first time since the lower East Rift Zone...

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Volcano Watch — Geodesy through time: a history of measuring the shape of Hawaiian volcanoes

Volcano Watch — Geodesy through time: a history of measuring the shape of Hawaiian volcanoes

Geodesy is the science of accurately measuring and understanding the Earth's geometric shape, gravity field, and orientation in space—and how these...

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Volcano Watch — Doppler radar in Ka‘ū: more than a weather radar

Volcano Watch — Doppler radar in Ka‘ū: more than a weather radar

Driving Highway 11 from Volcano to Wai‘ōhinu on sunny, vog-free days, it's hard to miss that bright white soccer ball on the slope of Mauna Loa above...

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