Hawai'i Volcano Blog

What makes a volcano a volcano? This was the topic of a “Volcano Watch” article about 20 years ago. Recent questions from visitors suggest this remains a topic of great interest and deserves revisiting.

The volcanic gas plume at the summit of Kīlauea Volcano in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park is often the most visible indication of the ongoing eruptive activity during the daylight hours.

Cities on Volcanoes meetings are sponsored by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth’s Interior, a society of scientists from around the world that specialize in volcanology and related disciplines.

Visitors to Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park in 2021 pumped nearly $120 million in to the Big Island’s economy, according to a new National Park Service report.

Like the pages of a book, the stories of Hawaiian volcanoes are “written” in layers of rock.

A series of collapse events took place from June 5–7, 1916, and observers described it as one of the most spectacular occurrences they had ever witnessed at Kīlauea.

June 8 was World Oceans Day, a day to appreciate the huge body of saltwater that covers about 71% of the Earth’s surface. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that our volcanic island is surrounded by oceans and one of the most distant places from continents on Earth. The ocean floor remains one of the most poorly understood places on our planet.

Kīlauea, one of Earth’s most active volcanoes, has been on the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program list of erupting volcanoes since the current summit eruption began on Sept. 29, 2021.

In the last few months, “Volcano Watch” articles have introduced several research projects funded by the Additional Supplemental Disaster Relief Act of 2019 (H.R. 2157). Each of these projects will help scientists better understand how Kīlauea volcano works and how the 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption and collapse of Kīlauea summit happened.

The year 1916 not only marked the birth of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, but also is remembered for the eruption of the Honamalino flow from the Southwest Rift Zone (SWRZ) of Mauna Loa 106 years ago.

Deep beneath Pāhala, a town located in the southern part of the Island of Hawaiʻi, is currently the most seismically active region of the Hawaiian Islands.

May 3 marked the fourth anniversary of the start of Kīlauea’s historic 2018 eruption that covered much of lower Puna with lava flows and dropped the crater floor of the summit. This anniversary is an appropriate time to reflect on the dynamic landscape we share and the events of the past 4 years. At the same time, we’re considering what these recent changes might mean for future activity at Kīlauea.

Since 2010, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa researchers at the Vog Measurement and Prediction Program (VMAP) have been studying the dispersion of vog in Hawaiʻi. The central goal of the effort has been to provide the public and emergency responders with accurate and timely forecasts that would help limit vog exposure for those in affected areas and communities.

Earth Day was first established on April 22, 1970, to raise awareness of some of the harmful effects industrialization was having on the environment.

Mauna Loa and Kīlauea are the two most active volcanoes on the Island of Hawai‘i, and they have overlapping eruption histories. They are located in close proximity, with their summit craters only about about 34 kilometers (21 miles) apart. In fact, part of Kīlauea is built on the southeast flank of Mauna Loa, which is the older of the two volcanoes.

I think the Island of Hawaiʻi is one of the most magical places on Earth. You can literally see land in the making when one of the volcanoes is erupting. But the familiar sight of red-glowing lava flows makes it hard to imagine a time when eruptions were different, and to think that such a time may come again someday.

The 2018 eruption of Kīlauea volcano had devastating effects on the lower Puna District, destroying hundreds of homes, burying subdivisions and permanently affecting the lives of thousands of residents. The voluminous lava flow had a major impact on the Island of Hawaiʻi, but how does it compare to other lava flow eruptions on Earth in recent history?

The 35-year-long Pu‘u‘ō‘ō eruption on the middle East Rift Zone of Kīlauea was a remarkable opportunity for scientists to improve volcano research and monitoring. Even short-lived episodes in this eruption, like the four-day-long Kamoamoa eruption, offered important insights.

As the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) continually improves our monitoring and eruption response capabilities, we acquired a new, state-of-the-art instrument called an Absolute Quantum Gravimeter (AQG). HVO scientists are excited about the AQG’s ability to measure very small mass changes beneath the ground surface, which will help detect underground volcanic processes.

For decades scientists have been interpreting these seismic signals at volcanoes in Hawaiʻi and around the world as evidence of underground magma migration or accumulation, which can be used to look for signs that might indicate an impending eruption.