Volcano Watch

Anyone watching the Webcams positioned on and around Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō in the early morning hours of Wednesday, September 21, would have seen a marked change...

Jack Sparrow, the central figure of the popular "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie tetrology, is an intriguing and charismatic character. Real-life...

Seismologists are often asked the question, "Can large earthquakes trigger volcanic eruptions?" The short answer is yes, earthquakes and volcanic...

In 1911, Frank A. Perret continuously observed the lava lake within Halema‘uma‘u Crater from his temporary residence, a scientific station on the...

Volcano Watch articles generally focus on Hawaiian volcanism, because they are written by USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) staff. But there are...

Kīlauea had been quiet for about six weeks in 1968 following the end of a 251-day-long eruption in Halema‘uma‘u Crater. But the summit area had been...

A lot has been learned about Kīlauea in the past decade from studying the volcano's explosive history.

With volcanoes, we often learn by comparing current events with those of the past. We can even make limited forecasts based on past scenarios if they...

HVO's first volcanic activity update, written by Frank Perret, the most famous American volcanologist of his time, appeared in the Pacific Commercial...

Earlier this month, a key subset of the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) seismographic network was upgraded. This...

This week marks the occasion of the 1,000th published Volcano Watch article. For nearly two decades, these articles, written predominantly by the...

"Is the volcano dead?" "When will it erupt again?"

Lava erupting steadily inside the crater of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō during the past three months is slowly approaching the lava high point of March 5, just before...

The sight of seven majestic voyaging canoes (vaka) in Hilo Bay last weekend was awe-inspiring. The vaka from Aotearoa (New Zealand), Tahiti, Cook...

A recent scientific paper has re-kindled a long-running debate over the presence, shape, and depth of mantle plumes (sometimes called hot spots) under...

As we approach the 100th anniversary of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO), we have realized that, while 1912 has long been recognized as the year...

Unbeknownst to many people, Frank A. Perret actually began the work of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) in the summer of 1911. (Thomas A. Jaggar...

On May 21, 2011, Grímsvötn volcano awoke from a 7-year eruptive slumber, producing an ash and gas plume about 17 km (10.6 miles) high. The eruption...

In May 1922, the scene at Halema‘uma‘u Crater in Kīlauea Caldera was spectacular. The level of lava within the crater had been rising since November...

Kīlauea is the most studied volcano in the world. You'd think that, after a century of scientific scrutiny, we'd have it completely figured out by now...