#hvo volcano watch column

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

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.

Early Missionaries to Hawaii were the first to note that lava flows were often preceded by lava draining from Kilauea’s summit crater.

Scientists, including those who study volcanoes, will be closely watching the findings from the OCO-2 satellite launched from California last week.

The Kahaualeʻa 2 flow is no more, as activity shifts to another area of the Puʻu ʻŌʻō vent on Kīlauea’s East Rift Zone.

An eruption that began in 1880 went on for many months, creating a lava flow that stopped below what is now Komohana Street.

The lava flow on Kilauea’s East Rift Zone is moving in fits and starts, as scientists monitor possibly correlated activities elsewhere on the volcano.

The massive volcano that dominates the southern part of the Big Island is revealing some activity similar to that seen prior to its last eruption in 1984.

The flow from a 14-month eruption beginning in 1856 stopped just short of Kaumana City, halted by Mauna Loa’s diminished output of lava.

Satellite imagery is helping scientists and civil authorities to gauge how many homes and other structures are located in areas threatened by volcanic activity.

“Wet volcanoes,” which can have craters hosting lakes, can produce deadly volcanic mud flows, surges of scorching-hot rock debris and steam-driven eruptions.

A landslide in March in Washington state has similarities to a much larger event that occurred in Ka`u during the massive 1868 earthquake.

Steam-driven explosions sent ash over a third of the island and blasted rocks weighing up to 12 tons around Halemaumau Crater over a period of 20 days.

Scientists say Hawaii’s undersea volcano, Lō‘ihi, located off the coast of Ka`u is too deep for eruptions to have obvious surface effects.

Scientists say although Pahoa and some neighboring subdivisions are downhill of Kilauea’s current lava flow, they are not in any danger at this time.

Portable volcano monitoring stations provide scientists with additional eyes and other sensor equipment in a hurry to monitor changes in eruptions.

The University of Hawaii at Hilo assists Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists unravel clues about the source and journey of lava from Kilauea volcano.

Scientists from Hawaiian Volcano Observatory say there’s good reason to think that future Hawaiian eruptions will occur not only on the Big Island.