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Daily updates about ongoing eruptions, recent images and videos of summit and East Rift Zone volcanic activity, maps, and data about recent earthquakes in Hawaii are posted on the HVO website. 

Volcano Watch is a weekly article and activity update written by U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists and colleagues.

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Volcano Watch — An acorn that grew into five volcano observatories

Volcano Watch — An acorn that grew into five volcano observatories

The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory has monitored, studied, and served as an information source about Hawaiian volcanism for the past 100 years.

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Volcano Watch — Hawaiian volcanoes are in the spotlight

Volcano Watch — Hawaiian volcanoes are in the spotlight

In 1987, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO), over 400 Earth scientists from around the...

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Volcano Watch — Spatter erupted from the heart of the Koa‘e fault system at Kīlauea

Volcano Watch — Spatter erupted from the heart of the Koa‘e fault system at Kīlauea

Seldom does one find evidence of an eruption where none was known before. We generally assume that Kīlauea erupts only at the summit or along its two...

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Volcano Watch — Kīlauea showing familiar pattern—or is it?

Volcano Watch — Kīlauea showing familiar pattern—or is it?

Tuesday morning, July 31, started as a typical office day at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO). Beginning at 10:25 a.m., a number of text...

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Volcano Watch — Kīlauea's July 1974 summit eruption: fond memories of dinner by "lava-light"

Volcano Watch — Kīlauea's July 1974 summit eruption: fond memories of dinner by "lava-light"

At 3:45 a.m., Friday, July 19, 1974, a flurry of earthquakes on Kīlauea triggered the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory's "tremor alarm." In response...

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Volcano Watch — A new meaning for "the gravity of the situation"

Volcano Watch — A new meaning for "the gravity of the situation"

Most of us think of gravity as a constant. Students of physics know that gravitational acceleration is 9.8 m per second-squared (32 ft/s/s), while the...

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Volcano Watch — Eyes to the sky measure volcanic gas passing by

Volcano Watch — Eyes to the sky measure volcanic gas passing by

The use of fingerprints, first considered as a means of identification in the 1880s, is now ubiquitous in murder mysteries, TV crime shows, and...

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Volcano Watch — Except for a little friction, Kīlauea's summit and rift zones are well connected

Volcano Watch — Except for a little friction, Kīlauea's summit and rift zones are well connected

When William Ellis, the first Western visitor to the summit of Kīlauea, looked out over the broad and deep caldera in 1823, he noted that it "had been...

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Volcano Watch — Can geothermal energy development be balanced with volcanic hazards in Hawai‘i?

Volcano Watch — Can geothermal energy development be balanced with volcanic hazards in Hawai‘i?

For decades, the State of Hawaii has been trying to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Energy from Hawai‘i geothermal resources is but one of...

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Volcano Watch — Tarawera's 1886 eruption is one to remember

Volcano Watch — Tarawera's 1886 eruption is one to remember

Hawai‘i's eruptions over the past several decades have been relatively benign, being characterized mostly by persistent lava lake activity or lava...

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Volcano Watch — Infrasound is coming to HVO…can you hear it?

Volcano Watch — Infrasound is coming to HVO…can you hear it?

Erupting volcanoes are obviously noisy places, but there are sounds that we do not hear as well. Infrasound is an acoustic wave with a frequency that...

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Volcano Watch — What will it take to grow another ice cap on Mauna Kea?

Volcano Watch — What will it take to grow another ice cap on Mauna Kea?

In the past half-million years, Mauna Kea has supported an ice cap at least four times. These glaciations occur when the climate is cold and wet, when...

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