Five-year management plan for establishing and operating NVEWS—The National Volcano Early Warning System

On March 12, 2019, Congress passed the John D. Dingell, Jr., Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act (Public Law 116–9; 133 Stat. 580), in which Title V, §5001 (43 U.S.C. 31k) authorized the establishment of the National Volcano Early Warning and Monitoring System (NVEWS) within the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Conceived by the USGS Volcano Hazards Program in 2005, NVEWS is designed to be a proactive, fully integrated national-scale volcano monitoring system to ensure that the 161 potentially active volcanoes in the United States and its territories are monitored at levels commensurate with the threat they pose. The core of this report is the first USGS NVEWS five-year management plan, which was presented to Congress on March 12, 2020, and which details the principal elements of NVEWS that will be developed over the next five years, pending sufficient funding. These elements are improvements and enhancements to the monitoring network, a National Volcano Data Center, an external grants activity, an Advisory Committee, an Implementation Committee, and partnerships, with estimated cost projections and annual milestones.