Volcano Watch

Witnessing a volcanic eruption is, for many, a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park welcomes well over a million visitors...

Halemaʻumaʻu has been progressively filled by six eruptions at the summit of Kīlauea since 2020, and it continues to accumulate new lava with each...

On December 23, 2024, eruptive activity at Kīlauea’s summit began again with the first in what has become 20 discrete lava fountaining episodes. Many...

April is a month that carries deep layers of meaning on the Island of Hawaiʻi. April is the cherished time of the Merrie Monarch Festival—a week-long...

As people from around the world are captivated by episodic lava fountaining during the ongoing Kīlauea eruption in Halemaʻumaʻu, let’s use the current...

Although it may feel like it happened in an instant, the formation of the Island of Hawai‘i’s youngest black sand beach did not happen overnight. This...

The National Volcano Early Warning and Monitoring System (NVEWS) was first authorized by congress in 2019 to be established within the United States...

The episodic summit eruption of Kīlauea in Halemaʻumaʻu crater has been going on for over three months now, with sixteen eruptive episodes displaying...

When magma moves into the rift zone of a Hawaiian volcano, there is understandably a lot of excitement and apprehension.  How far will the magma go...

March 27 marks the anniversary of the onset of Mauna Loa’s dramatic 1868 eruption, when lava flows from the Southwest Rift Zone severely impacted the...

Consider a can of soda. When the can is closed (pressurized), the soda contains dissolved carbon dioxide (CO2). When you open the can, the pressure...

Kīlauea is in a unique phase of activity in Halemaʻumaʻu, with 12 episodes of dual lava fountains since December 23, 2024. Several past eruptions have...

It was a dark and stormy night…

No, this isn’t a ghost story or horror movie – it’s a “Volcano Watch” about the eruption last fall near Nāpau Crater on...

Kīlauea has been erupting episodically for the past two months in Halemaʻumaʻu, nested within the south end of Kaluapele, the summit caldera...

Earthquakes are a common occurrence in Hawaii. If you subscribe to emergency, earthquake, or volcano notifications, the shaking you feel might be...

What is the collective noun for a group of volcano scientists? While some tongue-in-cheek responses might be “an eruption of volcanologists” or “a...

The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) spearheads Volcano Awareness Month each January on the Island of Hawaiʻi. This year, in addition to in...

Residents and visitors alike have been watching episodic lava fountains in Halemaʻumaʻu at the summit of Kīlauea since late December 2024. While...

Like fortune tellers who peer into a crystal ball for insight, volcanologists at the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) peer into the tiny...

The recent eruption of Kīlauea within Halemaʻumaʻu brought back an eruptive style not seen for many years.  The eruption included 3 episodes of lava...