Images

Island of Hawaiʻi Volcano Awareness Month programs scheduled throughout the month of January 2024.

Map showing the path that Rev. William Ellis took walking from the summit of Kīlauea to Kealakomo on August 2, 1823.

These plots show provisional CO₂ concentrations from two approximate areas at Kīlauea summit, over March–October 2023.

The seismogram tracks 24 hours of signals at station WRM, just west of Halemaʻumaʻu crater at the summit of Kīlauea. Examples of spectrographic helicopter noise, a small VT event, and a larger VT event are given below the seismogram.

Plot showing the distance between two GPS stations on Mauna Loa from February 2022 to November 2023. Station MOKP is on the north side of Mokuʻāweoweo and station MLES is east of Mokuʻāweoweo. This plot shows how the distance between these two stations increased before the 2022 Mauna Loa eruption, indicating that the volcano was inflating.

Map showing the locations of earthquakes beneath Mauna Loa between October 31, 2023, and November 9, 2023. The earthquake colors indicate their depth. Most earthquakes have occurred at depths of 40–60 km (25–37 mi) beneath Mokuʻāweoweo, though some have occurred at shallower depths within 16 km (10 mi) of the ground surface. USGS map.

On November 8, 2023, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) staff visited the rim of Moku‘āweoweo (Mauna Loa's summit caldera) to service the MLcam and the MTcam. In this photo, an HVO technician adjusts the antenna that transmits the webcam data back to the observatory. USGS photo by M. Patrick.

A view of Moku‘āweoweo (Mauna Loa's summit caldera) from the rim on the northwest side. The lava flows that flooded much of the caldera floor during the brief summit phase of the 2022 eruption are nearly indistinguishable from previous lava flows.

On November 8, 2023, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory staff visited the rim of Moku‘āweoweo (Mauna Loa's summit caldera) to service the MLcam and the MTcam. These cameras had been temporarily offline and not transmitting images.

This map shows recent unrest at Kīlauea's summit and Southwest Rift Zone. Yellow circles denote earthquake locations from October 4–November 5, 2023, as recorded by HVO seismometers.

Left: Annotated photo showing a continuous GPS monitoring station installed by HVO on the Island of Hawai'i. USGS photo by A.P. Ellis. Right: Example graph of processed daily GPS data positions in the east-west (top panel), north-south (middle panel), and vertical (bottom panel) axes for a GPS monitoring station at the summit of Kīlauea over the past two years.

Thumbnail image for Mauna Loa 2022 eruption anniversary video. Mauna Loa is Earth's largest active volcano and covers just over half of the Island of Hawaiʻi. It erupted most recently in November-December 2022, and it will erupt again.

USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory chief field engineer Kevan Kamibayashi conducts maintenance on a volcano-monitoring station located in American Samoa. USGS photo by J. Chang. 

The UNGE team with a newly installed seismic station. Also pictured is Dr. Christine Sealing (Fulbright Specialist), top row second from left, and Aaron Rinehart (USAID-USGS VDAP) bottom row second from right.

USGS field engineering technician Seth Swaney works on installing the borehole and upgrading seismic station AHUD, located south of Kaluapele and the summit of Kīlauea. USGS photo by M. Warren. 

Pico Basile volcano, located on Bioko Island in Equatorial Guinea (western Africa). 

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geophysicists recently completed the annual GPS survey of Kīlauea.

In this photo, taken on October 3, 2023, near Kīlauea's coastline in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, a GPS antenna is mounted on a fixed rod. A GPS receiver, housed in the yellow box, records the positions that can be compared with those from previous years to discern subtle patterns of ground deformation associated with volcanic activity.

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geophysicists completed the annual GPS survey of Kīlauea. Most Kīlauea and Mauna Loa GPS campaign survey sites have been occupied every year since the early 1990s, whereas the less active volcanoes Hualālai and Haleakalā are surveyed every 3–5 years. USGS photo by A. Ellis.

During the annual Kīlauea GPS campaign, scientists temporarily deploy a number of GPS instruments at established benchmarks; their recorded positions can be compared with those from previous years to discern subtle patterns of ground deformation associated with volcanic activity.

This reference map depicts the Kīlauea summit region following the most recent eruption in September 2023. The provided statistics for the eruption were measured and calculated from detailed aerial mapping that was completed after activity had ceased; a much weaker gas plume allowed for more accurate modeling of the post-eruption lava surface.