Volcano Watch

Known to many as “Pele’s Grandson,” Alexander (“Alex” or “Alec”) Lancaster guided both tourists and scientists to Hawai‘i’s volcanoes for over forty...

We traditionally spend the New Year singing “Auld Lang Syne,” a song that reminisces about times long past. For the first month of the New Year, staff...

Most people in Hawai‘i know about sulfur dioxide (SO2) gas, the major component of vog.  But, have you ever found yourself wanting to know the SO2/HCl...

Communities on the Island of Hawai‘i continue to recover from Kīlauea’s 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption and summit collapse as does the USGS...

The electronics workshop at the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) buzzes with creative activity. 

Scientists at the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) largely rely on aerial data collection for making maps of ongoing eruptions at Kīlauea. Most...

Halemaʻumaʻu crater has undergone repeated changes during the past two centuries. Prior to 1924, the size and shape of the Halemaʻumaʻu lava lake...

It’s hard to believe that the “Volcano Watch” weekly article and volcano activity update started 30 years ago. On November 3, 1991, the USGS Hawaiian...

Olivine crystals—the beautiful green mineral common in Hawaiian lavas—record when and where magmas move inside Hawaiian volcanoes before they erupt...

Volcanoes commonly give us clues that they are going to erupt. Before an eruption, gas, magma, and other fluids move below the surface of a volcano...