Videos

Changing sky conditions and smoke from the Slide fire, a major wildfire near Flagstaff, Arizona, are apparent in this sequence of natural-color, hemispheric images acquired on May 21, 2014. Individual images are collected at 10-minute intervals at the USGS Flagstaff Science Campus by the High Dynamic Range All-Sky Imaging System (HDR-ASIS).

See English version already posted in Gallery

"1964 Quake: The Great Alaska Earthquake" is an eleven minute video highlighting the impacts and effects of America's largest recorded earthquake. It is an expanded version of the four minute video "Magnitude 9.2". Both were created as part of USGS activities acknowledging the fifty year anniversary of the quake on March 27, 2014.

This Quicktime video shows a time-lapse sequence spanning from dawn to dusk on Tuesday, January 28, using images collected by our webcam near the summit of Mauna Loa Volcano (13,680 ft above sea level).

Public Lecture on Yellowstone Volcano by Jake Lowenstern at Menlo Park, CA on January 23, 2014. The Q&A at the end of the talk can be found on the original source video (Source URL).

Time lapse video of Angela Tan working in the USGS Sediment Lab Suite and Carbon Analysis Laboratory at the Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center in Santa Cruz, California.

Southern California's fire ecology is unlike that of anywhere else in the United States. Fire control strategies developed for mountain forests don't have the same results here. So can science help uncover new answers to help Southern California communities manage and live with wildfires?

Watch video interviews with four people discussing their experiences near the epicenter of the magnitude 5.8 earthquake in central Virginia on August 23, 2011. Tens of millions of people in the eastern U.S. and southeastern Canada were startled by sudden ground shaking from this earthquake, which was among the largest to occur in this region in the last century.

Bill Burton discusses the June 6-8, 1912 eruption of Mount Katmai in Alaska which was 30 times larger than the eruption of Mt. St. Helens in 1980. This eruption caused widespread devastation, and inspired heroic efforts at survival by the local people.

USGS geologist, Angie Diefenbach, describes how she uses GIS, (Geographic Information Systems) software to study volcanic eruptions and their impacts on society.

Volcanic ash is geographically the most widespread of all volcanic hazards. USGS geologist Larry Mastin describes how volcanic ash can disrupt lives many thousands of miles from an erupting volcano. The development of ash cloud models and ash cloud disruption to air traffic is highlighted.

USGS volcano seismologist, Seth Moran, describes how seismology and seismic networks are used to mitigate volcanic hazards.

Debris flows are hazardous flows of rock, sediment and water that surge down mountain slopes and into adjacent valleys. Hydrologist Richard Iverson describes the nature of debris-flow research and explains how debris flow experiments are conducted at the USGS Debris Flow Flume, west of Eugene, Oregon.

Photogrammetry is the science of making precise measurements by the use of photography. USGS geologist Angie Diefenbach describes how she uses a digital camera and computer software to understand the growth rate of lava domes during a volcanic eruption.

USGS technologist Rick LaHusen describes how the development and deployment of instruments plays a crucial role in mitigating volcanic hazards.

Hydraulic fracturing is the process of injecting wells with water, sand, and chemicals at very high pressure. This process creates fractures in deeply buried rocks to allow for the extraction of oil and natural gas as well as geothermal energy. USGS scientists discuss the opportunities and impact associated with hydraulic fracturing.

This animation shows how gases behave in magma and how an airplane-mounted UV spectrometer can measure gases in a volcanic plume.

The video shows time-lapse changes in the lava dome and Crater Glacier from 2004-2012. The images were created from 1:12,000 scale vertical aerial photographs combined with ground control points from campaign GPS and targets. Photogrammetry software was used to collect a 3-D point cloud and combined to make a digital elevation model (DEM).

Moving magma can deform the surface of the Earth. This animation shows how a tiltmeter and GPS are used to detect the subtle signs that tell scientists something about what is going on beneath the surface.

Earthquakes serve as an early warning sign for volcanic eruptions, as well as a marker for the location of moving magma. This animation shows magma movement beneath a volcano, simulated seismograms, volcanic tremor and seismicity associated with an impending eruption.

A live, online chat about East Coast earthquakes and the Virginia 5.8M earthquake that occurred on August 23, 2011, with Dr. Michael Blanpied, Associate Coordinator for the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program.