Volcano Watch

Famous for glowing red lava and billowing volcanic plumes, Halema‘uma‘u has long inspired poets, painters and photographers to find meaning in the...

On the evening of Thursday, October 22nd, people living near the summit of Kīlauea Volcano began to feel a series of earthquakes.  They were small...

One of the fundamental premises of geology is that the "key to understanding the future is to understand the past."  In order to forecast how a...

The Koa‘e fault system connects Kīlauea’s East and Southwest Rift Zones south of the caldera. Faults here appear as low cliffs, or “scarps” along...

Major earthquakes cannot be predicted. Successful earthquake predictions need to have three things correct: the location, the time, and the magnitude...

Residents on the Island of Hawaiʻi are accustomed to feeling earthquakes. As the ground shaking subsides and the safety of everyone around is assured...

You may have seen the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory’s “Caldera Chronicles” article about their new-and-improved website, in which they hint at a...

Over the past two decades, the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) has set up a camera network system to monitor visual changes at Kīlauea and...

Kīlauea's 2018 summit collapse dramatically transformed the geometry and appearance of Halema‘uma‘u crater and Kīlauea caldera. Last week's "Volcano...

Last week, Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park was able to open the Kīlauea Overlook to the public for the first time since the lower East Rift Zone...

Geodesy is the science of accurately measuring and understanding the Earth's geometric shape, gravity field, and orientation in space—and how these...

Driving Highway 11 from Volcano to Wai‘ōhinu on sunny, vog-free days, it's hard to miss that bright white soccer ball on the slope of Mauna Loa above...

On July 4, 2018, an observer at the Volcano House Hotel was watching the evolving collapse of Halema‘uma‘u Crater, 4 km (2.5 miles) away. Suddenly he...

The recent first anniversary of the appearance of water at Kīlauea's summit is a reminder of how much has changed since the end of the 2018 eruption...

On July 25, 2019, ponded water was first observed within Halema‘uma‘u at the summit of Kīlauea Volcano. Over the past twelve months, the USGS Hawaiian...

The Youth and Education in Science (YES) program at USGS in collaboration with the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) is launching a community...

Mauna Kea volcano hasn't erupted in over 4,500 years, but that doesn't mean it's quiet. In fact, for decades it has been hiding one of the most unique...

The "Hawaiian Sup‘pa Man," demi-god Maui, had several adventures on the Wailuku River in the legendary past. He rescued his mother, Hina, who lived in...

Last week's "Volcano Watch" article introduced the role of "technician" at the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO). This week, we present the...

As part of Volcano Awareness Month earlier this year, "Volcano Watch" featured five articles focused on different roles at the USGS Hawaiian Volcano...