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Volcano Watch — Facts and Fallacies about Hualālai Volcano

Volcano Watch — Facts and Fallacies about Hualālai Volcano

Every so often we receive a number of inquiries from anxious people in Kona about a possible eruption of Hualālai Volcano. The latest spate of...

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Volcano Watch — Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō changes steadily and abruptly

Volcano Watch — Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō changes steadily and abruptly

The ground surface subsided abruptly about six weeks ago at Pu`u `O`o, Kīlauea Volcano's active cinder-cone vent. Gaping cracks opened around the...

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Volcano Watch — Where does Kīlauea erupt most often?

Volcano Watch — Where does Kīlauea erupt most often?

A visitor recently asked, "Does Kīlauea erupt more often at the summit or along its two rift zones?" Let's try to answer that question.

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Volcano Watch — Monitoring Kīlauea and Mauna Loa with the Global Positioning System

Volcano Watch — Monitoring Kīlauea and Mauna Loa with the Global Positioning System

A common sight this time of year, particularly in Puna and the National Park, is a bright yellow tripod topped with a white disk. Usually seen...

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Volcano Watch — Acid rain, opal, and vegetation contrasts-thanks to Halema‘uma‘u

Volcano Watch — Acid rain, opal, and vegetation contrasts-thanks to Halema‘uma‘u

Few landscape changes are as extreme as that between the windward and leeward sides of Kīlauea's caldera. Simply drive from the Visitor Center in...

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Volcano Watch — Heat is deep and magma is shallow in a hot-spot system

Volcano Watch — Heat is deep and magma is shallow in a hot-spot system

The hot-spot theory is the well-known modern explanation for the origin of the Hawaiian island chain. In it, the Pacific plate drifts northwestward...

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Volcano Watch — Diving deeply into Kīlauea's early history

Volcano Watch — Diving deeply into Kīlauea's early history

Kīlauea wasn't always like it is today. Two hundred thousand years and the change from a seamount to an island can do a lot to a volcano. The trick is...

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Volcano Watch — Lava tube magnetism

Volcano Watch — Lava tube magnetism

HVO scientists have developed techniques to study conditions in the interior of active lava tubes and flows by making measurements on and above their...

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Volcano Watch — An exciting couple of weeks at Kīlauea

Volcano Watch — An exciting couple of weeks at Kīlauea

The last couple of weeks have been exciting ones to be studying active volcanism in Hawai'i. To start with, after several months of fairly constant...

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Volcano Watch — The evolution of the tiltmeter at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory

Volcano Watch — The evolution of the tiltmeter at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory

The basic strategy in monitoring a volcano has not changed much since 1912 when Thomas A. Jaggar founded HVO. He recognized the importance of...

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Volcano Watch — The 1950 eruption of Mauna Loa: a nightmare that could reoccur

Volcano Watch — The 1950 eruption of Mauna Loa: a nightmare that could reoccur

On the night of June 1, 1950, after many residents of Ho`okena-mauka village in South Kona had already gone to bed, Mauna Loa began to erupt. Soon the...

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Volcano Watch — Dual volcanic tragedies in the Caribbean led to founding of HVO

Volcano Watch — Dual volcanic tragedies in the Caribbean led to founding of HVO

A pair of devastating eruptions in the Caribbean 99 years ago this week shook the world and, as fate would have it, led indirectly to the founding of...

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