Volcano Watch

Helicopter pilots and mechanics crucial for monitoring and observing active volcanoes.

GPS is one of the primary tools we use to monitor ground motion and detect what's happening inside and around Hawaiian volcanoes.

The lava lake within Halema‘uma‘u Crater at the summit of Kīlauea Volcano is creating a scene remindful of a messy barbershop floor, except that it's...

Ten years ago shortly after 7:00 a.m., HST, on Sunday, October 15, 2006, two damaging earthquakes struck off the northwest coast of the Island of...

Characterizing earthquakes is one of the most important activities we do at the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO). Seismicity helps us monitor...

Visitors to the Jaggar Museum and Ka‘ū Desert in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, struck by the appearance of three dark, symmetrical volcanic cones...

In early September 2016, USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) monitoring instruments on Kīlauea began recording increased rates of inflation and...

People who venture too close to the perilous beauty of an ocean entry face real and present dangers.

Despite severely reduced funding and staffing, Jaggar made an important and successful prediction based on Mauna Loa's past pattern of eruptions. 

To help determine the timing of eruptive activity, geologists use a radiocarbon age-dating technique. Collecting charcoal is the most common method...