Volcano Watch

In addition to a new year and a new eruption, the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) is ushering in a new era for processing and studying...

It has been an exciting week at Kīlauea Volcano as the summit eruption that began on the evening of December 20th continues. The eruption remains...

‘Twas the Sunday before Christmas, the eve of the winter solstice, and festive holiday lights blinked of bright red and green. And then, shortly after...

The 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption and summit caldera collapse marked the end of the 35-year-long Puʻu ʻŌʻō and 10-year-long summit lava lake...

Though there hasn’t been an eruption in Hawai‘i in 2020, the year has hardly been quiet—earthquake swarms, an elevated alert-level on Mauna Loa, and a...

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to travel from the depths of Kīlauea and be hurled into the air as a tiny grain of volcanic ash? How high...

Recall this lava flow crisis from years ago: lava breaks out of the normal confines of the long-lived Puʻu ʻŌʻō eruption, with flows advancing...

In volcano-related cartography and geographic analyses, especially in Hawaii, there is perhaps nothing more important than having an accurate digital...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has 5 volcano observatories tasked with monitoring low to high threat volcanoes throughout the United States. 

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

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...

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...

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...

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

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

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

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...

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

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...

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