Volcano Watch

The superintendent for the parks maintenance division of the Hawaii County Parks and Recreation Department recently called the U.S. Geological Survey...

Wednesday, November 29, marks the 20th anniversary of the 1975 Kalapana earthquake, the largest earthquake to strike Hawaii since 1868. Residents were...

The U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory is closed due to the general shutdown of the U.S. government.

Seismology, the science of earthquakes and the mechanical properties of the Earth, is the primary method used to monitor the volcanoes of Hawaii and...

On November 5, 1880, 115 years ago this week, an eruption began on Mauna Loa's northeast rift zone that would eventually send lava closer to Hilo Bay...

The eruption on Kīlauea's East Rift Zone continued without any pauses this past week. The active flows are confined to the eastern side of the...

During the past few weeks, we took a break from writing about Kīlauea's East Rift Zone eruption to explore the geological history of the main Hawaiian...

In the last few weeks, we have reviewed the eruptive stages of Hawaiian volcanoes and have given brief overviews of the geologic history of Hawai'i...

Last week, we presented a brief history of the island of Hawaii, the largest island in the Hawaiian chain. However, before the island of Hawaii formed...

The Island of Hawai'i consists of five coalesced volcanoes, a submarine volcano that has already subsided below sea level, and another, Lō‘ihi...

The 15 volcanoes that comprise the eight principal Hawaiian Islands are the youngest in a linear chain of about 125 volcanoes that stretches for about...

The long-lived eruption on Kīlauea's East Rift Zone took a short break starting Tuesday, August 22. Before the pause in activity, we observed that the...

A recent visitor to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory was involved with the removal of abandoned vehicles from the area surrounding the Sand Hill cone...

The rapidly changing geology in the Hawaiian Islands has profound consequences for the plants and animals in Hawai'i on several time scales.

The eruption on Kīlauea's East Rift Zone continues with little change. Lava is erupting from two vents located on the south and west flanks of the Pu...

The mission of the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory is to monitor the volcanoes of Hawaii, to study the geological processes...

Soufriere Hills Volcano on the island of Montserrat in the Caribbean became active on July 18, 1995. This is the first eruption of the volcano in...

For several weeks we have been fielding calls from anxious people in Kona asking about an imminent eruption of Hualālai Volcano.

Last week we discussed the different land surveying techniques HVO scientists use to monitor the swelling and movement of active volcanoes.
 

The ground around an active volcano swells, deflates, or shifts as magma moves in and out of the volcano's underground plumbing system. The...