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Please use the Volcano Notification Service (VNS) website to sign up for emails about volcanic activity at U.S. monitored volcanoes. You can customize VNS to only deliver notices for certain volcanoes, or multiple volcanoes, as well as choose the notice types you want to receive.
There are also updates available through the interactive map and Volcano Updates link (left column) on the Volcano Hazards Program website, through the regional volcano observatory websites, an RSS feed, and the USGS Volcanoes Facebook page.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) employs a nationwide volcano alert-level system for characterizing conditions (quiet, unrest, eruption) at U.S. volcanoes.
For information about volcanoes outside of the United States, visit the Smithsonian Institute's Global Volcanism Program website.
Excluding steam eruptions, these volcanoes have shown activity: Mount St. Helens, Washington - Eruptions and/or lava dome growth occurred in the late 1700s, 1800-1857, 1980-1986, and 2004-2008. Lassen Peak, California - A series of steam blasts began on May 30, 1914. An eruption occurred 12 months later on May 21, 1915. Minor activity continued through the middle of 1917. Mount Hood, Oregon -...
The world's largest eruption of the 20th century occurred in 1912 at Novarupta on the Alaska Peninsula in what is now Katmai National Park and Preserve. An estimated 15 cubic kilometers of magma was explosively erupted during 60 hours beginning on June 6th. This volume is equivalent to 230 years of eruption at Kilauea (Hawaii) or about 30 times the volume erupted by Mount St. Helens (Washington)...
The United States ranks third, behind Indonesia and Japan, in the number of historically active volcanoes (that is, those for which we have written accounts of eruptions). In addition, about 10 percent of the more than 1,500 volcanoes that have erupted in the past 10,000 years are located in the United States. Most of these volcanoes are found in the Aleutian Islands, the Alaska Peninsula, the...
No. The geologic forces that generated volcanoes in the eastern United States millions of years ago no longer exist. Through plate tectonics, the eastern U.S. has been isolated from the global tectonic features (tectonic plate boundaries and hot spots in the mantle), that cause volcanic activity. So new volcanic activity is not possible now or in the near future. If you wait around several hundred...
More than 80 percent of the Earth's surface--above and below sea level--is of volcanic origin. Gaseous emissions from volcanic vents over hundreds of millions of years formed the Earth's earliest oceans and atmosphere, which supplied the ingredients vital to evolve and sustain life. Over geologic eons, countless volcanic eruptions have produced mountains, plateaus, and plains, which subsequently...
On May 11, USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists visited the western rim of Halemaʻumaʻu crater to observe episode 21 of the ongoing Kīlauea summit eruption.
On May 11, USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists visited the western rim of Halemaʻumaʻu crater to observe episode 21 of the ongoing Kīlauea summit eruption.
This presentation by Dr. Jake Lowenstern was prepared for the AGU 2024-2025 Distinguished Lecture Series. It discusses the challenges of volcano monitoring, eruption forecasting, and protecting vulnerable populations.
This presentation by Dr. Jake Lowenstern was prepared for the AGU 2024-2025 Distinguished Lecture Series. It discusses the challenges of volcano monitoring, eruption forecasting, and protecting vulnerable populations.
View of the combined seismic/GPS station BRSP, on the north flank of Mount Hood, Oregon. Mount Hood is pictured in the distance.
View of the combined seismic/GPS station BRSP, on the north flank of Mount Hood, Oregon. Mount Hood is pictured in the distance.
USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory staff, June 2019
USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory staff, June 2019
Mount Shasta, a steep-sided Cascade Range stratovolcano in Northern California, looms above Little Glass Mountain, a thick obsidian flow erupted from the Medicine Lake shield volcano about 1,000 years ago. These are just two of the young volcanic areas monitored by the USGS California Volcano Observatory. USGS photo.
Mount Shasta, a steep-sided Cascade Range stratovolcano in Northern California, looms above Little Glass Mountain, a thick obsidian flow erupted from the Medicine Lake shield volcano about 1,000 years ago. These are just two of the young volcanic areas monitored by the USGS California Volcano Observatory. USGS photo.
USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory staff, September 2018.
USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory staff, September 2018.
Excluding steam eruptions, these volcanoes have shown activity: Mount St. Helens, Washington - Eruptions and/or lava dome growth occurred in the late 1700s, 1800-1857, 1980-1986, and 2004-2008. Lassen Peak, California - A series of steam blasts began on May 30, 1914. An eruption occurred 12 months later on May 21, 1915. Minor activity continued through the middle of 1917. Mount Hood, Oregon -...
The world's largest eruption of the 20th century occurred in 1912 at Novarupta on the Alaska Peninsula in what is now Katmai National Park and Preserve. An estimated 15 cubic kilometers of magma was explosively erupted during 60 hours beginning on June 6th. This volume is equivalent to 230 years of eruption at Kilauea (Hawaii) or about 30 times the volume erupted by Mount St. Helens (Washington)...
The United States ranks third, behind Indonesia and Japan, in the number of historically active volcanoes (that is, those for which we have written accounts of eruptions). In addition, about 10 percent of the more than 1,500 volcanoes that have erupted in the past 10,000 years are located in the United States. Most of these volcanoes are found in the Aleutian Islands, the Alaska Peninsula, the...
No. The geologic forces that generated volcanoes in the eastern United States millions of years ago no longer exist. Through plate tectonics, the eastern U.S. has been isolated from the global tectonic features (tectonic plate boundaries and hot spots in the mantle), that cause volcanic activity. So new volcanic activity is not possible now or in the near future. If you wait around several hundred...
More than 80 percent of the Earth's surface--above and below sea level--is of volcanic origin. Gaseous emissions from volcanic vents over hundreds of millions of years formed the Earth's earliest oceans and atmosphere, which supplied the ingredients vital to evolve and sustain life. Over geologic eons, countless volcanic eruptions have produced mountains, plateaus, and plains, which subsequently...
On May 11, USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists visited the western rim of Halemaʻumaʻu crater to observe episode 21 of the ongoing Kīlauea summit eruption.
On May 11, USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists visited the western rim of Halemaʻumaʻu crater to observe episode 21 of the ongoing Kīlauea summit eruption.
This presentation by Dr. Jake Lowenstern was prepared for the AGU 2024-2025 Distinguished Lecture Series. It discusses the challenges of volcano monitoring, eruption forecasting, and protecting vulnerable populations.
This presentation by Dr. Jake Lowenstern was prepared for the AGU 2024-2025 Distinguished Lecture Series. It discusses the challenges of volcano monitoring, eruption forecasting, and protecting vulnerable populations.
View of the combined seismic/GPS station BRSP, on the north flank of Mount Hood, Oregon. Mount Hood is pictured in the distance.
View of the combined seismic/GPS station BRSP, on the north flank of Mount Hood, Oregon. Mount Hood is pictured in the distance.
USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory staff, June 2019
USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory staff, June 2019
Mount Shasta, a steep-sided Cascade Range stratovolcano in Northern California, looms above Little Glass Mountain, a thick obsidian flow erupted from the Medicine Lake shield volcano about 1,000 years ago. These are just two of the young volcanic areas monitored by the USGS California Volcano Observatory. USGS photo.
Mount Shasta, a steep-sided Cascade Range stratovolcano in Northern California, looms above Little Glass Mountain, a thick obsidian flow erupted from the Medicine Lake shield volcano about 1,000 years ago. These are just two of the young volcanic areas monitored by the USGS California Volcano Observatory. USGS photo.
USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory staff, September 2018.
USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory staff, September 2018.