May 3, 2023 — USGS scientist installing a seismic node on Kīlauea

On May 3, HVO scientists and collaborators deployed some seismic nodes for the Kīlauea Seismic Imaging Project in the Hilina Pali area of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. Many of the nodes being deployed have spikes on the bottom to secure them into the ground to avoid wind movement, which cause noise in the data they collect. In areas where the ground surface is too hard to place the node spikes, bucket nodes are used instead. These buckets contain a spikeless node surrounded by sand to mimic the effect of being secured in the ground. In this photo, a scientist takes notes and a GPS location for where a bucket node is being deployed. The node will collect data for the next month. USGS image by B. Meyers.