I am a geologist who specializes in photogrammetry techniques to monitor active volcanoes, as well as volcanic hazard analyses and threat assessments.
I work for the Volcano Disaster Assistance Program (VDAP), a partnership between the USGS and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). I also serve as project lead for the USGS Volcano Science Center’s Unoccupied Aircraft Systems (UAS) Project, which oversees UAS volcano monitoring activities across all US volcano observatories. My job is multifaceted and involves volcano crisis response, research, teaching, monitoring, and hazards communication and outreach. My research focuses on image analysis techniques to monitor active volcanoes. I utilize various platforms, from UAS “drones” to helicopters to satellites to acquire images and a technique called photogrammetry to create high-resolution topographic models of volcanoes. During eruptions I create successive models to measure volumes and effusion rates of lava domes and flows for hazard mitigation and scientific investigation. I am the primary data analyst for VDAP’s International Volcano Activity Notification System (IVANS) where I prepare synoptic hazard analyses of developing volcanic unrest and eruptions and communicate information to government officials and international aid agencies through situation reports. I also work with partner observatories around the world to develop frameworks for monitoring, mapping, and mitigation strategies through national-scale volcanic threat assessments. Additionally, I teach international workshops on photogrammetry and UAS techniques and for the Center for the Study of Active Volcanoes (CSAV) international training program.
Professional Experience
Since 2010: USAID-USGS Volcano Disaster Assistance Program, Cascades Volcano Observatory
2007-2010: USGS Volcano Hazards Program, Cascades Volcano Observatory
2006-2007: Graduate Teaching Assistant and Geology Department GIS Specialist, Western Washington University
2005-2006: National Science Foundation GK-12 Catalyst for Reform Fellow, Western Washington University
2005-2005: National Association of Geoscience Teachers intern, USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory
2004-2006: Field Engineer and Permitting Specialist, UNAVCO – NSF Earthscope Plate Boundary Observatory, PNW office
2002-2004: Geochemistry Laboratory Research Assistant and Geology Department Clerical Assistant, Central Washington University
Education and Certifications
M.S., Geology, Western Washington University, 2007
B.S., Geology, Central Washington University, 2004
Honors and Awards
Department of the Interior Exemplary Act Award (2019)
Departmental Award for Outstanding Contribution to Aviation Safety - DOI-USGS UAS Kīlauea Response Team (2019)
STAR Award for Role in the Response to the 2018 Eruption of Kīlauea (2019)
NAGC Blue Pencil Award - Soft or Hard Cover Book - 2018 Update to the U.S. Geological Survey National Volcanic Threat Assessment (2019)
NAGC Blue Pencil Award - Technical or Statistical Report - 2018 Update to the U.S. Geological Survey National Volcanic Threat Assessment (2019)
USGS National Geological and Geophysical Data Preservation Program Award (2016)
WWU Innovations in Technology Graduate Thesis Award (2007)
CWU Center for Excellence in Leadership Outstanding Student Award (2003)
Ronald E. McNair Scholar (2001-2003)
Washington State Promise Scholar (1999-2002)
Science and Products
Historical video footage of Mount St. Helens volcano, Washington, 1980-1982
This data release contains digital video files from the USGS of Mount St. Helens volcano in the months leading up to the cataclysmic eruption on May 18, 1980 as well as the first two years of the eruption. Original videos were collected on an assortment of cameras and film types, including 16 mm, 8 mm and Super 8 mm during USGS field campaigns on the ground as well as from the air and on time-laps
Unoccupied Aircraft Systems (UAS) video of the 2018 summit eruption of K?lauea Volcano, Hawaii
This dataset contains Unoccupied Aircraft Systems (UAS) footage from the 2018 summit collapse of Kilauea Volcano, Island of Hawai'i. The intrusion of magma into Kilauea's lower East Rift Zone triggered draining of the summit lava lake and magma withdrawal from the shallow reservoir. This resulted in 62 subsequent collapse events at the summit between May and early-August 2018. Each collapse event
Unoccupied Aircraft Systems (UAS) video of the 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption of K'lauea Volcano, Hawaii
This dataset contains Unoccupied Aircraft Systems (UAS) footage from the 2018 eruption of K'lauea Volcano's lower East Rift Zone (LERZ), Island of Hawai'i. The four-month-long eruption, from May 3 to September 5, produced lava flows that destroyed 723 structures, inundated 35.5 km2 of land, and added 3.5 km2 of new land to the Island of Hawai'i. There are 1178 UAS videos in this publication, recor
Aleutian Arc Fluid Geochemical Data
This report contains the chemical and isotopic data from thermal waters and gases collected from the Aleutian Arc over the past 20 years, where such data remain unpublished or only published in part.
Filter Total Items: 20
High-resolution InSAR reveals localized pre-eruptive deformation inside the crater of Agung Volcano, Indonesia
During a volcanic crisis, high-rate, localized deformation can indicate magma close to the surface, with important implications for eruption forecasting. However, only a few such examples have been reported, because frequent, dense monitoring is needed. High-resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is capable of achieving <1 m spatial resolution and sub-weekly revisit times, but is under-used. He
Authors
Mark Bemelmans, Juliet Biggs, Michael P. Poland, James Wookey, Susanna Ebmeier, Angela K. Diefenbach, Devy Damil Syahbana
Lava effusion rate evolution and erupted volume during the 2018 Kīlauea lower East Rift Zone eruption
The 2018 eruption on the lower East Rift Zone of Kīlauea Volcano produced one of the largest and most destructive lava flows in Hawai’i during the past 200 years. Over the course of more than 3 months, twenty-four fissures erupted, and the rate of lava effusion varied by two orders of magnitude, with significant implications for evolving flow behavior and hazards. Syn-eruptive data were collected
Authors
Hannah R. Dietterich, Angela K. Diefenbach, Adam Soule, Michael H. Zoeller, Matthew R. Patrick, J. J. Major, Paul Lundgren
From lava to water: A new era at Kīlauea
No abstract available.
Authors
Patricia Nadeau, Angela K. Diefenbach, Shaul Hurwitz, Donald A. Swanson
Volcanological applications of unoccupied aircraft systems (UAS): Developments, strategies, and future challenges
Unoccupied aircraft systems (UAS) are developing into fundamental tools for tackling the grand challenges in volcanology; here, we review the systems used and their diverse applications. UAS can typically provide image and topographic data at two orders of magnitude better spatial resolution than space-based remote sensing, and close-range observations at temporal resolutions down to those of vide
Authors
Mike R. James, Brett B Carr, Fiona D'Arcy, Angela K. Diefenbach, Hannah R. Dietterich, Alessandro Fornaciai, Einat Lev, Emma J Liu, David C. Pieri, Mel Rodgers, Benoît Smets, Akihiko Terada, Felix W von Aulock, Thomas R. Walter, Kieran T Wood, Edgar U Zorn
Seismo-acoustic evidence for vent drying during shallow submarine eruptions at Bogoslof volcano, Alaska
Characterizing the state of the volcanic vent is key for interpreting observational datasets and accurately assessing volcanic hazards. This is particularly true for remote, complex eruptions such as the 2016–2017 Bogoslof volcano, Alaska eruption sequence. Bogoslof’s eruptions in this period were either shallow submarine or subaerial, or some combination of both. Our results demonstrate how low-f
Authors
David Fee, John J. Lyons, Matthew M. Haney, Aaron Wech, Christopher F. Waythomas, Angela K. Diefenbach, Taryn Lopez, Alexa R. Van Eaton, David Schneider
Cyclic lava effusion during the 2018 eruption of Kīlauea Volcano
Lava flows present a recurring threat to communities on active volcanoes, and volumetric eruption rate is one of the primary factors controlling flow behavior and hazard. The timescales and driving forces of eruption rate variability, however, remain poorly understood. In 2018, a highly destructive eruption occurred on the lower flank of Kīlauea Volcano, Hawaiʻi, where the primary vent exhibited d
Authors
Matthew R. Patrick, Hannah R. Dietterich, John J. Lyons, Angela K. Diefenbach, Carolyn Parcheta, Kyle R. Anderson, Atsuko Namiki, Ikuro Sumita, Brian Shiro, James P. Kauahikaua
The 2017-19 activity at Mount Agung in Bali (Indonesia): Intense unrest, monitoring, crisis response, evacuation, and eruption
After 53 years of quiescence, Mount Agung awoke in August 2017, with intense seismicity, measurable ground deformation, and thermal anomalies in the summit crater. Although the seismic unrest peaked in late September and early October, the volcano did not start erupting until 21 November. The most intense explosive eruptions with accompanying rapid lava effusion occurred between 25 and 29 November
Authors
D.K. Syahbana, K. Kasbani, G. Suantika, O. Prambada, A. Andreas, U. Saing, S. Kunrat, S.L. Andreastuti, S. Martanto, E. Kriswati, Y. Suparman, H. Humaida, Sarah E. Ogburn, Peter J. Kelly, John Wellik, Heather Wright, Jeremy D. Pesicek, Rick Wessels, Christoph Kern, Michael Lisowski, Angela K. Diefenbach, Michael P. Poland, Francois Beauducel, R. Greg Vaughan, John S. Pallister, Jacob B. Lowenstern
The 2018 rift eruption and summit collapse of Kilauea Volcano
In 2018, Kīlauea Volcano experienced its largest lower East Rift Zone (LERZ) eruption and caldera collapse in at least 200 years. After collapse of the Pu'u 'Ō'ō vent on 30 April, magma propagated downrift. Eruptive fissures opened in the LERZ on 3 May, eventually extending ~6.8 km. A 4 May earthquake (M6.9) produced ~5 m of fault slip. Lava erupted at rates exceeding 100 m3/s, eventually coveri
Authors
Christina A. Neal, Steven Brantley, Loren Antolik, Janet Babb, Matthew K. Burgess, Michael Cappos, Jefferson Chang, Sarah Conway, Liliana Desmither, Peter Dotray, Tamar Elias, Pauline Fukunaga, Steven Fuke, Ingrid Johanson, Kevan Kamibayashi, James P. Kauahikaua, R. Lopaka Lee, S. Pekalib, Asta Miklius, Brian Shiro, Don Swanson, Patricia Nadeau, Michael H. Zoeller, P. Okubo, Carolyn Parcheta, Matthew R. Patrick, William Tollett, Frank A. Trusdell, Edward F. Younger, Emily Montgomery-Brown, Kyle R. Anderson, Michael P. Poland, Jessica L. Ball, Joseph A. Bard, Michelle L. Coombs, Hannah R. Dietterich, Christoph Kern, Weston Thelen, Peter Cervelli, Tim R. Orr, Bruce F. Houghton, Cheryl Gansecki, Richard Hazlett, Paul Lundgren, Angela K. Diefenbach, Allan Lerner, Greg Waite, Peter J. Kelly, Laura E. Clor, Cynthia Werner, Katherine Mulliken, Gary B. Fisher, David Damby
2018 update to the U.S. Geological Survey national volcanic threat assessment
When erupting, all volcanoes pose a degree of risk to people and infrastructure, however, the risks are not equivalent from one volcano to another because of differences in eruptive style and geographic location. Assessing the relative threats posed by U.S. volcanoes identifies which volcanoes warrant the greatest risk-mitigation efforts by the U.S. Geological Survey and its partners. This update
Authors
John W. Ewert, Angela K. Diefenbach, David W. Ramsey
Geomorphic expression of rapid Holocene silicic magma reservoir growth beneath Laguna del Maule, Chile
Large rhyolitic volcanoes pose a hazard, yet the processes and signals foretelling an eruption are obscure. Satellite geodesy has revealed surface inflation signaling unrest within magma reservoirs underlying a few rhyolitic volcanoes. Although seismic, electrical, and potential field methods may illuminate the current configuration and state of these reservoirs, they cannot fully address the proc
Authors
Brad S. Singer, Hélène Le Mével, Joseph M. Licciardi, Loreto Córdova, Basil Tikoff, Nicolas Garibaldi, Nathan L. Andersen, Angela K. Diefenbach, Kurt L. Feigl
Construction of probabilistic event trees for eruption forecasting at Sinabung volcano, Indonesia 2013–14
Eruptions of Sinabung volcano, Indonesia have been ongoing since 2013. Since that time, the character of eruptions has changed, from phreatic to phreatomagmatic to magmatic explosive eruptions, and from production of a lava dome that collapsed to a subsequent thick lava flow that slowly ceased to be active, and later, to a new lava dome. As the eruption progressed, event trees were constructed to
Authors
Heather M. Wright, John S. Pallister, Wendy A. McCausland, Julia P. Griswold, Supriyati Andreastuti, Agus Budianto, Sofyan Primulyana, Maurizio Battaglia, Angie Diefenbach, John W. Ewert, Peter J. Kelly, Christoph Kern, Martin R. LaFevers, Andrew B. Lockhart, Jeffrey N. Marso, Gari C. Mayberry, Steve P. Schilling, Rick Wessels, Randall A. White, Nurnaning Aisyah, Nugraha Kartadinata, Kristianto, Raditya Putra, Ugan Boyson Saing, Agus Solihin, Yasa Suparman, Devy Damil Syahbana, Hetty Triastuty
Mass addition at Mount St. Helens, Washington, inferred from repeated gravity surveys
Measurements of subtle changes in the Earth’s gravityfield can provideinformation on the addition/loss of mass (e.g., magma or aqueousfluids) beneath a volcano. In this study, wemeasured gravity at Mount St. Helens from 2010 to 2016 to investigate possible mass changes followingthe 2004–2008 dome-forming eruption. The raw gravity measurements were corrected for changes in themass and shape of Crat
Authors
Maurizio Battaglia, Michael Lisowski, Daniel Dzurisin, Michael P. Poland, Steve Schilling, Angela K. Diefenbach, Jeff Wynn
Science and Products
- Data
Historical video footage of Mount St. Helens volcano, Washington, 1980-1982
This data release contains digital video files from the USGS of Mount St. Helens volcano in the months leading up to the cataclysmic eruption on May 18, 1980 as well as the first two years of the eruption. Original videos were collected on an assortment of cameras and film types, including 16 mm, 8 mm and Super 8 mm during USGS field campaigns on the ground as well as from the air and on time-lapsUnoccupied Aircraft Systems (UAS) video of the 2018 summit eruption of K?lauea Volcano, Hawaii
This dataset contains Unoccupied Aircraft Systems (UAS) footage from the 2018 summit collapse of Kilauea Volcano, Island of Hawai'i. The intrusion of magma into Kilauea's lower East Rift Zone triggered draining of the summit lava lake and magma withdrawal from the shallow reservoir. This resulted in 62 subsequent collapse events at the summit between May and early-August 2018. Each collapse eventUnoccupied Aircraft Systems (UAS) video of the 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption of K'lauea Volcano, Hawaii
This dataset contains Unoccupied Aircraft Systems (UAS) footage from the 2018 eruption of K'lauea Volcano's lower East Rift Zone (LERZ), Island of Hawai'i. The four-month-long eruption, from May 3 to September 5, produced lava flows that destroyed 723 structures, inundated 35.5 km2 of land, and added 3.5 km2 of new land to the Island of Hawai'i. There are 1178 UAS videos in this publication, recorAleutian Arc Fluid Geochemical Data
This report contains the chemical and isotopic data from thermal waters and gases collected from the Aleutian Arc over the past 20 years, where such data remain unpublished or only published in part. - Publications
Filter Total Items: 20
High-resolution InSAR reveals localized pre-eruptive deformation inside the crater of Agung Volcano, Indonesia
During a volcanic crisis, high-rate, localized deformation can indicate magma close to the surface, with important implications for eruption forecasting. However, only a few such examples have been reported, because frequent, dense monitoring is needed. High-resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is capable of achieving <1 m spatial resolution and sub-weekly revisit times, but is under-used. HeAuthorsMark Bemelmans, Juliet Biggs, Michael P. Poland, James Wookey, Susanna Ebmeier, Angela K. Diefenbach, Devy Damil SyahbanaLava effusion rate evolution and erupted volume during the 2018 Kīlauea lower East Rift Zone eruption
The 2018 eruption on the lower East Rift Zone of Kīlauea Volcano produced one of the largest and most destructive lava flows in Hawai’i during the past 200 years. Over the course of more than 3 months, twenty-four fissures erupted, and the rate of lava effusion varied by two orders of magnitude, with significant implications for evolving flow behavior and hazards. Syn-eruptive data were collectedAuthorsHannah R. Dietterich, Angela K. Diefenbach, Adam Soule, Michael H. Zoeller, Matthew R. Patrick, J. J. Major, Paul LundgrenFrom lava to water: A new era at Kīlauea
No abstract available.AuthorsPatricia Nadeau, Angela K. Diefenbach, Shaul Hurwitz, Donald A. SwansonVolcanological applications of unoccupied aircraft systems (UAS): Developments, strategies, and future challenges
Unoccupied aircraft systems (UAS) are developing into fundamental tools for tackling the grand challenges in volcanology; here, we review the systems used and their diverse applications. UAS can typically provide image and topographic data at two orders of magnitude better spatial resolution than space-based remote sensing, and close-range observations at temporal resolutions down to those of videAuthorsMike R. James, Brett B Carr, Fiona D'Arcy, Angela K. Diefenbach, Hannah R. Dietterich, Alessandro Fornaciai, Einat Lev, Emma J Liu, David C. Pieri, Mel Rodgers, Benoît Smets, Akihiko Terada, Felix W von Aulock, Thomas R. Walter, Kieran T Wood, Edgar U ZornSeismo-acoustic evidence for vent drying during shallow submarine eruptions at Bogoslof volcano, Alaska
Characterizing the state of the volcanic vent is key for interpreting observational datasets and accurately assessing volcanic hazards. This is particularly true for remote, complex eruptions such as the 2016–2017 Bogoslof volcano, Alaska eruption sequence. Bogoslof’s eruptions in this period were either shallow submarine or subaerial, or some combination of both. Our results demonstrate how low-fAuthorsDavid Fee, John J. Lyons, Matthew M. Haney, Aaron Wech, Christopher F. Waythomas, Angela K. Diefenbach, Taryn Lopez, Alexa R. Van Eaton, David SchneiderCyclic lava effusion during the 2018 eruption of Kīlauea Volcano
Lava flows present a recurring threat to communities on active volcanoes, and volumetric eruption rate is one of the primary factors controlling flow behavior and hazard. The timescales and driving forces of eruption rate variability, however, remain poorly understood. In 2018, a highly destructive eruption occurred on the lower flank of Kīlauea Volcano, Hawaiʻi, where the primary vent exhibited dAuthorsMatthew R. Patrick, Hannah R. Dietterich, John J. Lyons, Angela K. Diefenbach, Carolyn Parcheta, Kyle R. Anderson, Atsuko Namiki, Ikuro Sumita, Brian Shiro, James P. KauahikauaThe 2017-19 activity at Mount Agung in Bali (Indonesia): Intense unrest, monitoring, crisis response, evacuation, and eruption
After 53 years of quiescence, Mount Agung awoke in August 2017, with intense seismicity, measurable ground deformation, and thermal anomalies in the summit crater. Although the seismic unrest peaked in late September and early October, the volcano did not start erupting until 21 November. The most intense explosive eruptions with accompanying rapid lava effusion occurred between 25 and 29 NovemberAuthorsD.K. Syahbana, K. Kasbani, G. Suantika, O. Prambada, A. Andreas, U. Saing, S. Kunrat, S.L. Andreastuti, S. Martanto, E. Kriswati, Y. Suparman, H. Humaida, Sarah E. Ogburn, Peter J. Kelly, John Wellik, Heather Wright, Jeremy D. Pesicek, Rick Wessels, Christoph Kern, Michael Lisowski, Angela K. Diefenbach, Michael P. Poland, Francois Beauducel, R. Greg Vaughan, John S. Pallister, Jacob B. LowensternThe 2018 rift eruption and summit collapse of Kilauea Volcano
In 2018, Kīlauea Volcano experienced its largest lower East Rift Zone (LERZ) eruption and caldera collapse in at least 200 years. After collapse of the Pu'u 'Ō'ō vent on 30 April, magma propagated downrift. Eruptive fissures opened in the LERZ on 3 May, eventually extending ~6.8 km. A 4 May earthquake (M6.9) produced ~5 m of fault slip. Lava erupted at rates exceeding 100 m3/s, eventually coveriAuthorsChristina A. Neal, Steven Brantley, Loren Antolik, Janet Babb, Matthew K. Burgess, Michael Cappos, Jefferson Chang, Sarah Conway, Liliana Desmither, Peter Dotray, Tamar Elias, Pauline Fukunaga, Steven Fuke, Ingrid Johanson, Kevan Kamibayashi, James P. Kauahikaua, R. Lopaka Lee, S. Pekalib, Asta Miklius, Brian Shiro, Don Swanson, Patricia Nadeau, Michael H. Zoeller, P. Okubo, Carolyn Parcheta, Matthew R. Patrick, William Tollett, Frank A. Trusdell, Edward F. Younger, Emily Montgomery-Brown, Kyle R. Anderson, Michael P. Poland, Jessica L. Ball, Joseph A. Bard, Michelle L. Coombs, Hannah R. Dietterich, Christoph Kern, Weston Thelen, Peter Cervelli, Tim R. Orr, Bruce F. Houghton, Cheryl Gansecki, Richard Hazlett, Paul Lundgren, Angela K. Diefenbach, Allan Lerner, Greg Waite, Peter J. Kelly, Laura E. Clor, Cynthia Werner, Katherine Mulliken, Gary B. Fisher, David Damby2018 update to the U.S. Geological Survey national volcanic threat assessment
When erupting, all volcanoes pose a degree of risk to people and infrastructure, however, the risks are not equivalent from one volcano to another because of differences in eruptive style and geographic location. Assessing the relative threats posed by U.S. volcanoes identifies which volcanoes warrant the greatest risk-mitigation efforts by the U.S. Geological Survey and its partners. This updateAuthorsJohn W. Ewert, Angela K. Diefenbach, David W. RamseyGeomorphic expression of rapid Holocene silicic magma reservoir growth beneath Laguna del Maule, Chile
Large rhyolitic volcanoes pose a hazard, yet the processes and signals foretelling an eruption are obscure. Satellite geodesy has revealed surface inflation signaling unrest within magma reservoirs underlying a few rhyolitic volcanoes. Although seismic, electrical, and potential field methods may illuminate the current configuration and state of these reservoirs, they cannot fully address the procAuthorsBrad S. Singer, Hélène Le Mével, Joseph M. Licciardi, Loreto Córdova, Basil Tikoff, Nicolas Garibaldi, Nathan L. Andersen, Angela K. Diefenbach, Kurt L. FeiglConstruction of probabilistic event trees for eruption forecasting at Sinabung volcano, Indonesia 2013–14
Eruptions of Sinabung volcano, Indonesia have been ongoing since 2013. Since that time, the character of eruptions has changed, from phreatic to phreatomagmatic to magmatic explosive eruptions, and from production of a lava dome that collapsed to a subsequent thick lava flow that slowly ceased to be active, and later, to a new lava dome. As the eruption progressed, event trees were constructed toAuthorsHeather M. Wright, John S. Pallister, Wendy A. McCausland, Julia P. Griswold, Supriyati Andreastuti, Agus Budianto, Sofyan Primulyana, Maurizio Battaglia, Angie Diefenbach, John W. Ewert, Peter J. Kelly, Christoph Kern, Martin R. LaFevers, Andrew B. Lockhart, Jeffrey N. Marso, Gari C. Mayberry, Steve P. Schilling, Rick Wessels, Randall A. White, Nurnaning Aisyah, Nugraha Kartadinata, Kristianto, Raditya Putra, Ugan Boyson Saing, Agus Solihin, Yasa Suparman, Devy Damil Syahbana, Hetty TriastutyMass addition at Mount St. Helens, Washington, inferred from repeated gravity surveys
Measurements of subtle changes in the Earth’s gravityfield can provideinformation on the addition/loss of mass (e.g., magma or aqueousfluids) beneath a volcano. In this study, wemeasured gravity at Mount St. Helens from 2010 to 2016 to investigate possible mass changes followingthe 2004–2008 dome-forming eruption. The raw gravity measurements were corrected for changes in themass and shape of CratAuthorsMaurizio Battaglia, Michael Lisowski, Daniel Dzurisin, Michael P. Poland, Steve Schilling, Angela K. Diefenbach, Jeff Wynn