Hawai'i Volcano Blog

HVO recently used a cutting-edge technique to sample the Halema‘uma‘u water lake deep within Kīlauea’s collapsed summit crater.

The goal of the updated website is to provide near real-time statewide air quality data online.

As roads are recut into Kīlauea’s 2018 lava flow field, many have been surprised at how hot the lava remains under the surface, even though it is solidified.

The air is cool and thin at 10,000 feet. Our field crew of six from Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) keep warm unloading gear.

The NOAA Ship Rainier, with a crew of approximately 50, works primarily in Alaska, but special circumstances this year brought it to Hawai‘i.

The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) detects tens of thousands of earthquakes each year.

The recently published “Geologic Map of the Central-Southeast flank of Mauna Loa Volcano” is the culmination of years of fieldwork by the US Geological Survey.

Even though Kīlauea Volcano’s lower East Rift Zone eruption has been over for about a year, steam continues to appear in new places or reappear in old places.

Volcano observatories across the United States work together to ensure efficient and thorough monitoring of the nation’s active volcanoes.

With more collaborative monitoring, we can collect more and higher quality data, and better understand how volcanoes work, including ours here in Hawai‘i.

During a reception in Arlington, Virginia, on June 26, 2019, Volcano Watch was awarded First Place in the NAGC’s Electronic Publication category.

Scientists recently reanalyzed deformation data on Kīlauea’s south flank and found that only a few isolated portions of the Hilina fault system moved.

Routine laser rangefinder measurements indicate that the pond continues to rise.

Volcanoes on Hawai‘i Island played an important role in moon exploration, providing a training ground for astronauts who brought back the first lunar samples.

The slowly deepening pond of water on the floor of Halema‘uma‘u, the first in recorded history, has captured the interest of media and the public.

The recent appearance of water at the bottom of Halema‘uma‘u, a crater at the summit of Kīlauea Volcano, has attracted wide attention and generated questions.

Everyone agreed that the photos could well show water, but could the green patch be something else?

The lava flow worried residents of Hilo for a time because, after ponding and likely inflating behind Puʻuhuluhulu, it suddenly broke out toward the city at alarming rates of about 2 to 3 kilometers per day (1.5 to 2 miles per day) for nearly a week in late December.

Now, for the first time in over three decades, Kīlauea is not erupting. At the summit of the volcano, earthquake activity is low, and most of the National Park is open for business. No lava is flowing anywhere on Kīlauea, and volcanic air pollution on the island is the lowest it’s been since the early 1980s.

Shortly before midnight on July 5, 1975, Mauna Loa Volcano awakened with a shudder.