Volcano Watch

Nearly everyone on the island of Hawai`i should have felt an earthquake this past week. As the accompanying map shows, Hawai`i was rattled by 11...

The eruption from the episode 51 vents, located on the west flank of the Pu`u `O`o cone on the East Rift Zone of Kīlauea Volcano, continues with...

On Thursday an explosion in the crater of Galeras Volcano in Colombia killed six volcanologists attending an international workshop attended by more...

One of the main impediments to predicting the future behavior of Kīlauea and especially Mauna Loa Volcanoes is the short historical record of each...

The Pu`u `O`o-Kupaianaha eruption now ranks as the longest-lived historic eruption on the East Rift Zone and the most destructive in Kīlauea's recent...

The East Rift Zone of Kīlauea Volcano is 130 kilometers long, but only 55 kilometers of the rift is above sea level. The lower 75 kilometers of the...

For the past 10 years, most of the evident changes on Kīlauea Volcano have occurred down the east rift zone near and downslope from the Pu`u `O`o and...

Lava erupted from the episode 51 vents has been entering the sea at Kamoamoa since November 8. On Tuesday, a new phenomenon was observed. 

The eruption from the episode 51 vents has continued without interruption since October 2. The flows crossed the Chain of Craters Road near Kamoamoa...

The eruption from the episode 51 vents has continued without interruption since October 2. The flows have now advanced to within 300 feet of the Chain...

The 10-year long eruption of Kīlauea Volcano continues from the episode 51 vents located on the west flank of the Pu`u `O`o cone. The flows advanced...

The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory studies mainly the current activity of Hawai`i's volcanoes, and our eruption forecasts are limited to the short-term...

The last two weeks have been particularly busy on Kīlauea Volcano. On October 2, starting about 3:30 p.m., the tremor near Pu`u `O`o began to increase...

Over the years, scientists at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory have developed good techniques for short-term eruption predictions (a few hours to a...

The U.S Geological Survey has recently published a new, full-sized map which defines the boundaries of nine lava flow hazard zones on the island. This...

Residents of Pahala felt a small earthquake (magnitude 3.7) at 10:22 p.m. on September 10. This earthquake was located a few miles northwest of the...

"With all the lava being erupted, is there a large, empty space within the Earth where the lava came from?" This is a frequent question answered by...

The episode 51 vents have been continuously active since early in the morning on July 27. The active vents are located just west of the Pu`u `O`o...

To the non-geologist, lava is hot, orange molten rock, or when cooled, smooth and gray, or black and jagged rock. However, to the geologist or...

Kīlauea's ongoing eruption from the episode 51 vents resumed on Aug. 15 after a four-day pause in the activity and reoccupied the tube system down to...