Videos

Welcome to the “I Am A..." series, a whiteboard animation video series highlighting USGS careers.

Eruptive activity on the west side of HALMEMAUMAU crater, Kīlauea summit, on December 20. Audible bubble bursts from the west vent (lower right) produced brown-tinted gas plumes with entrained lava fragments. The bursts also created pressure waves that displaced the white steam.

Olivine—the green mineral found in Hawaiian lavas—and its chemistry can tell us a lot about how, when, and where magmas move inside volcanoes before they erupt. Join Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologist Kendra J.

The 2021 Atlantic hurricane season was the third most-active season on record. The USGS deployed crews and scientists across the country to provide science and resources to emergency managers.

Steep watersheds with dramatic environmental gradients are common features of both the Pacific Islands and Southeast Alaska.

The 2021 Atlantic hurricane season was the third most-active season on record. The USGS deployed crews and scientists across the country to provide science and resources to emergency managers.

Some people have characterized the seasonal rise and fall of Yellowstone as being like breathing. During the summer there is a little pause in the overall trend of subsidence and sometimes even a short episode of slight uplift. The trend reverses in early winter.

Lava continues to erupt from a perched lava pond within the west vent of Halema‘uma‘u crater at the summit of Kīlauea. This video shows nearly continuous spatter bursts through the pond and a roiling and sloshing pond surface. At about 43 seconds into the video, a white-trailed tropicbird (koa‘e kea) flies through the frame.

Lake Powell on the border of Utah and Arizona supplies water to millions across the southwestern United States.

Busting Myths About One of the Largest Volcanic Systems in the World - The Top 10 Misconceptions about Yellowstone Volcanism

By Michael Poland, USGS Scientist-in-charge, Yellowstone Volcano Observatory

Welcome to the "I Am A..." series, a whiteboard animation video series highlighting USGS careers.

Lava continues to erupt from the west vent in Halema‘uma‘u, and supply the lava lake through a spillway in the spatter cone. On November 12, a small overflow of the perched lava lake levee was visible from the western crater rim. Overflows are an important process for building up perched levees, as they help add height and stability.

Lava continues to erupt from the west vent in Halema‘uma‘u, and supply the lava lake through a spillway in the spatter cone. On November 9, a close-up view of the west vent shows spatter bursting and sloshing within the cone. Spatter was thrown about 6–9 m (20–30 ft) above the pond surface, occasionally depositing spatter onto the rim of the cone. 

Landsat 9 launched into space on September 27th, 2021. The "first light" images arrived on October 31st. On that day the satellite captured: algal blooms in Lake Erie, the glaciers of the Himalayas, bush fires in Australia's Eucalypt Woodlands, coastal communities on the Florida panhandle, and deserts, mountains and mesas across the Navajo Nation.

The November 2021 YVO Yellowstone Volcano update comes to you from a very snowy Norris Geyser Basin with a story about Porkchop Geyser’s 1989 explosion.

Eruptive activity continues in Halema‘uma‘u, at the summit of Kīlauea. The west vent remains active with low fountaining in a slightly perched pond set within the cone. Lava pours through a short spillway into the lava lake. The base level of the pond fluctuates over the timespan of minutes.

*Happy Halloween*

It has been one month since the new eruption began in Halema'uma'u. Over the past year at Kīlauea summit there has been a water lake and two eruptions within Halema'uma'u crater.

Zombie Salmon and Ghost Moose - The Spooky Implications of Climate Change

By Laura Thompson & Abigail Lynch, USGS National Climate Adaptation Science Center

The granitic cliffs of Yosemite Valley produce frequent rockfalls, modifying the landscape but also posing risk to park visitors. Analyses of terrestrial lidar and historical structure-from-motion photogrammetry data provide relatively precise short-term (approximately 40 years) rates of rockfall and cliff retreat.

The volcanic activity of Kilauea continues on the island of Hawaii. The latest eruption began within Halema'uma'u Crater on September 29. The previous eruption just ended in May 2021. Before that, major lava flows covered the eastern tip of Hawaii's Big Island in 2018. This latest eruption included vigorous fountaining up to 50-60m high.