Volcano Watch

Tomorrow, January 3, marks the 17th anniversary of the ongoing Pu`u `O`o - Kupaianaha eruption. Some readers are too young to remember the eruption in...

The staff and associates of the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and Kīlauea Field Station extend a warm and cheerful holiday...

An employee of the Hilo Hawaiian hotel recently called the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and asked about the origin of Coconut...

Last week's heavy rains on the Big Island brought an end to one of the worst seasons for yellowjacket wasps around Mauna Loa in more than a decade.
 

The heavy rain that East Hawai`i experienced this week, particularly on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, suggested the topic for this week's...

The Saddle Road to Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA) might seem noticeably more worn this month.

Here's a question for you trivia aficionados. Since written records began in 1823, what is the longest period of time without an eruption in Kīlauea's...

Kīlauea's south slope presents a spectacular drive by motorcar because the highway descends steeply to reach the coastal plain.

In 1916, Thomas Jaggar, renowned scientist and founder of HVO, wrote, in a foreword to "Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes" by Westervelt, that "Everything...

Many visitors come to the summit of Kīlauea, take a quick look into the caldera, say, "Hmmm, that's nice," shrug their shoulders, and move on. All...

For the past two months, reports of large earthquakes and the havoc they cause seem to be constantly in the news. Earthquakes in Turkey, Taiwan...

At the end of their shield-building stage, the summits of Hawaiian volcanoes commonly have large collapsed areas called calderas. Both Kīlauea and...

For the past two weeks, people have been asking, "Why isn't the eruption going at full speed?," and "Why isn't lava going into the ocean?"
 

The last two editions of this column have dealt with the intrusion of magma into the upper east rift zone of Kīlauea on September 12 and with the...

One of the ways we monitor Kīlauea's activity is by studying the release of volcanic gases. Gases like sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide are trapped...

Lava and lightning occasionally ignite fires in Hawaiian forests and shrublands where grass or other fine plant fuels are abundant and when the...

In our efforts to refine the geologic map of Haleakalā, we recently obtained radiocarbon ages from the youngest lava flows, those at La Perouse Bay...

The Hokule`a set sail from Hilo in June on an eight-month round-trip voyage to Rapa Nui (Easter Island). The crew of this double-hulled sailing canoe...

The August 17, 1999, magnitude 7.4 earthquake in Turkey leveled thousands of buildings and resulted in over 10,000 deaths. This was the largest...

In the wild west of the 19th century, stagecoaches often had someone aboard whose job was to warn and protect the driver from marauding gangs and wild...