On Tuesday, April 14, 2026, USGS-Hawaiian Volcano Observatory field engineers with tower-climbing certifications ascended the cell tower within Hawaiʻi Volcano National Park. Their mission was to replace a point-to-point radio that had been water damaged during the recent storms, resulting in the loss of multiple volcano monitoring data streams since Saturday, April 11, 2026. USGS photo by M. Warren. 

A USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory field engineer checks cables at the base of a cell tower in Hawaiʻi Volcano National Park as part of a new point-to-point radio being installed. The previous point-to-point radio was damaged during recent storms, resulting in partial volcano-monitoring data outages since April 11, 2026. Monitoring data transmitted via the Island of Hawai‘i's cellular network were still being collected and relayed to the web as normal. Replacing the point-to-point radio resolved the partial volcano-monitoring network outage. USGS photo by M. Warren. 

A USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory field engineer uses a field laptop to configure the connection between the new radio that was installed on the cell tower in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. This radio receives monitoring data via a radio link from another tower located at Uēkahuna, which collects data from various volcano-monitoring stations. From the cell tower, monitoring data is relayed to the Kawaihae Data Center. Because the radio at the cell tower was damaged during recent storms, there was a volcano monitoring data outage since Saturday April 11, 2026. The new radio resolved the issue. USGS photo by M. Warren.