Kyle R. Anderson, Ph.D.
I am a geophysicist specializing in volcanic systems. I use monitoring data to better understand and forecast volcanic processes and hazards.
I work to understand volcanic systems by developing mathematical models which relate magma physics with monitoring data such as ground deformations and eruption rates. Model predictions can be compared with real-world observations using probabilistic statistical approaches, making it possible to constrain properties of volcanic systems such as the composition and volume of stored magma. These techniques can also be used in some cases to forecast future eruptive activity. I've worked most extensively at Mount St. Helens and Kīlauea volcanoes, but I'm interested in volcanoes and eruptions around the world.
Research Interests
- Physics of magma systems and volcanic eruptions
- Caldera collapse processes
- Episodic/cyclic eruptive behavior
- Volatiles in magma and influence on eruptive processes
- Rates of magma supply, storage, and eruption
- Ground deformation caused by magmatic processes
- Volcanic hazards assessments and forecasts
- Uncertainty quantification
Professional Experience
Research Geophysicist, USGS Volcano Science Center (California Volcano Observatory) (2015-present)
Mendenhall Postdoctoral Research Fellow, USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (2012-2015)
Education and Certifications
PhD: Geophysics, Stanford University
MS: Geophysics, Stanford University
BA: Geology-Physics, Whitman College
Science and Products
Cyclic lava effusion during the 2018 eruption of Kilauea Volcano: data release
This USGS data release includes data related to the Science magazine manuscript "Cyclic lava effusion during the 2018 eruption of Kilauea Volcano" by Patrick et al. The data release includes 1) original video as well as thermal, and timelapse images of lava in the proximal Fissure 8 channel, 2) derived estimates of lava level in the channel and bulk effusion rates (not corrected for vesicles), 3)
Filter Total Items: 44
Versatile modeling of deformation (VMOD) inversion framework: Application to 20 years of observations at Westdahl Volcano and Fisher Caldera, Alaska, US
We developed an open source, extensible Python-based framework, that we call the Versatile Modeling of Deformation (VMOD), for forward and inverse modeling of crustal deformation sources. VMOD abstracts from specific source model implementations, data types and inversion methods. We implement the most common geodetic source models which can be combined to model and analyze multi-source deformation
Authors
Mario Angarita, Ronni Grapenthin, Scott Henderson, Michael S Christoffersen, Kyle R. Anderson
Pre-existing ground cracks as lava flow pathways at Kīlauea in 2014
In 2014, the Pāhoa lava flow at Kīlauea, on the Island of Hawaiʻi (USA), entered a string of pre-existing meter-width ground cracks in the volcano’s East Rift Zone. The ground cracks transported lava below the surface in a direction discordant to the slope of the landscape. The cracks, which were 100s of meters long and 10s to 100s of meters deep, also widened by up to several meters as they fille
Authors
T. Orr, Edward W. Llewellin, Kyle R. Anderson, Matthew R. Patrick
Stress-driven recurrence and precursory moment-rate surge in caldera collapse earthquakes
Predicting the recurrence times of earthquakes and understanding the physical processes that immediately precede them are two outstanding problems in seismology. Although geodetic measurements record elastic strain accumulation, most faults have recurrence intervals longer than available measurements. Foreshocks provide the principal observations of processes before mainshocks, but variability bet
Authors
Paul Segall, Mark V. Matthews, David R. Shelly, Taiyi Wang, Kyle R. Anderson
Understanding the drivers of volcano deformation through geodetic model verification and validation
Volcano geodesy often involves the use of models to explain observed surface deformation. A variety of forward models are used, from analytical point sources to numerical simulations that consider complex magma system geometries, topography, and material properties. Various inversion methods can then be used to relate observed volcano data to models. Ideally, forward models should be verified thro
Authors
Joshua Allen Crozier, Leif Karlstrom, Emily Montgomery-Brown, Mario Angarita, Valérie Cayol, Mary Grace Bato, Taiyi Wang, Ronni Grapenthin, Tara Shreve, Kyle R. Anderson, Ana Astort, Olivier Bodart, Flavio Cannavò, Gilda Currenti, Farshid Dabaghi, Brittany A. Erickson, Deepak Garg, Matthew Head, Adriana Iozzia, Young Cheol Kim, Hélène Le Mével, Camila Novoa Lizama, Cody Rucker, Francesca Silverii, Yan Zhan
The 2018 eruption of Kīlauea: Insights, puzzles, and opportunities for volcano science
The science of volcanology advances disproportionately during exceptionally large or well-observed eruptions. The 2018 eruption of Kīlauea Volcano (Hawai‘i) was its most impactful in centuries, involving an outpouring of more than one cubic kilometer of basalt, a magnitude 7 flank earthquake, and the volcano’s largest summit collapse since at least the nineteenth century. Eruptive activity was doc
Authors
Kyle R. Anderson, Tom Shea, Kendra J. Lynn, Emily Montgomery-Brown, Donald A. Swanson, Matthew R. Patrick, Brian Shiro, Christina A. Neal
Ring fault creep drives volcano-tectonic seismicity during caldera collapse of Kīlauea in 2018
Basaltic caldera collapses are episodic, producing very-long-period (VLP) earthquakes up to Mw 5.4, with prolific inter-collapse (between collapses) volcano-tectonic (VT) seismicity. During the 2018 caldera collapse of Kīlauea Volcano, VT seismicity ceased following each collapse, and then accelerated to a quasi-steady rate prior to the next collapse, marking a temporal pattern distinct from typic
Authors
Taiyi A. Wang, Paul Segall, Alicia J. Hotovec-Ellis, Kyle R. Anderson, Peter F. Cervelli
Coordinating science during an eruption: Lessons from the 2020–2021 Kīlauea volcanic eruption
Data collected during well-observed eruptions can lead to dramatic increases in our understanding of volcanic processes. However, the necessary prioritization of public safety and hazard mitigation during a crisis means that scientific opportunities may be sacrificed. Thus, maximizing the scientific gains from eruptions requires improved planning and coordinating science activities among governmen
Authors
Kari M. Cooper, Kyle R. Anderson, Kathy Cashman, Michelle L. Coombs, Hannah R. Dietterich, Tobias Fischer, Bruce F. Houghton, Ingrid Johanson, Kendra J. Lynn, Michael Manga, Christelle Wauthier
Calibration of imperfect geophysical models by multiple satellite interferograms with measurement bias
Model calibration consists of using experimental or field data to estimate the unknown parameters of a mathematical model. The presence of model discrepancy and measurement bias in the data complicates this task. Satellite interferograms, for instance, are widely used for calibrating geophysical models in geological hazard quantification. In this work, we used satellite interferograms to relate gr
Authors
Mengyang Gu, Kyle R. Anderson, Erika McPhillips
Optimizing satellite resources for the global assessment and mitigation of volcanic hazards—Suggestions from the USGS Powell Center Volcano Remote Sensing Working Group
A significant number of the world’s approximately 1,400 subaerial volcanoes with Holocene eruptions are unmonitored by ground-based sensors yet constitute a potential hazard to nearby residents and infrastructure, as well as air travel and global commerce. Data from an international constellation of more than 60 current satellite instruments provide a cost-effective means of tracking activity and
Authors
M. E. Pritchard, M. Poland, K. Reath, B. Andrews, M. Bagnardi, J. Biggs, S. Carn, D. Coppola, S.K. Ebmeier, M.A. Furtney, T. Girona, J. Griswold, T. Lopez, P. Lundgren, S. Ogburn, M. Pavolonis, E. Rumpf, G. Vaughan, C. Wauthier, R. Wessels, R. Wright, K.R. Anderson, M.G. Bato, A. Roman
Incremental caldera collapse at Kīlauea Volcano recorded in ground tilt and high-rate GNSS data, with implications for collapse dynamics and the magma system
Ground deformation during caldera collapse at Kīlauea Volcano in 2018 was recorded in unprecedented detail on a network of real-time GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) and tilt instruments. Observations informed hazard assessments during the eruption and now yield insight into collapse dynamics and the magma system. The caldera grew in size over 78 days in a series of repeating, quasi-perio
Authors
Kyle R. Anderson, Ingrid Johanson
Could Kı̄lauea's 2020 post caldera-forming eruption have been anticipated?
In 2018 Kīlauea volcano erupted a decade’s worth of basalt, given estimated magma supply rates, triggering caldera collapse. Yet, less than 2.5 years later Kīlauea re-erupted. At the 2018 eruption onset, pressure within the summit reservoir was ~20 MPa above magmastatic. By the onset of collapse this decreased by ~17 MPa. Analysis of magma surges at the 2018 fissures, following collapse events, im
Authors
Paul Segall, Kyle R. Anderson, Taiyi Wang
Earthquake-derived seismic velocity changes during the 2018 caldera collapse of Kīlauea volcano
The 2018 Kīlauea caldera collapse produced extraordinary sequences of seismicity and deformation, with 62 episodic collapse events which significantly altered the landscape of the summit region. Despite decades of focused scientific studies at Kīlauea, detailed information about the internal structure of the volcano is limited. Recently developed techniques in seismic interferometry can be used to
Authors
Alicia J. Hotovec-Ellis, Brian Shiro, David R. Shelly, Kyle R. Anderson, Matt Haney, Weston Thelen, Emily Montgomery-Brown, Ingrid Johanson
Non-USGS Publications**
P. Segall and K. Anderson (2014), Look up for magma insights, Nature Geoscience, 7 (3), 2 pp., doi:10.1038/ngeo2064
Anderson, K. and P. Segall (2011), Physics-based models of ground deformation and extrusion rate at effusively erupting volcanoes, Journal of Geophysical Research, 116 (B7), 20 pp., doi:10.1029/2010JB007939
Anderson, K., M. Lisowski, and P. Segall (2010), Cyclic ground tilt associated with the 2004-2008 eruption of Mount St. Helens, Journal of Geophysical Research, 115 (B11), 29 pp., doi:10.1029/2009JB007102
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
Science and Products
- Data
Cyclic lava effusion during the 2018 eruption of Kilauea Volcano: data release
This USGS data release includes data related to the Science magazine manuscript "Cyclic lava effusion during the 2018 eruption of Kilauea Volcano" by Patrick et al. The data release includes 1) original video as well as thermal, and timelapse images of lava in the proximal Fissure 8 channel, 2) derived estimates of lava level in the channel and bulk effusion rates (not corrected for vesicles), 3) - Publications
Filter Total Items: 44
Versatile modeling of deformation (VMOD) inversion framework: Application to 20 years of observations at Westdahl Volcano and Fisher Caldera, Alaska, US
We developed an open source, extensible Python-based framework, that we call the Versatile Modeling of Deformation (VMOD), for forward and inverse modeling of crustal deformation sources. VMOD abstracts from specific source model implementations, data types and inversion methods. We implement the most common geodetic source models which can be combined to model and analyze multi-source deformationAuthorsMario Angarita, Ronni Grapenthin, Scott Henderson, Michael S Christoffersen, Kyle R. AndersonPre-existing ground cracks as lava flow pathways at Kīlauea in 2014
In 2014, the Pāhoa lava flow at Kīlauea, on the Island of Hawaiʻi (USA), entered a string of pre-existing meter-width ground cracks in the volcano’s East Rift Zone. The ground cracks transported lava below the surface in a direction discordant to the slope of the landscape. The cracks, which were 100s of meters long and 10s to 100s of meters deep, also widened by up to several meters as they filleAuthorsT. Orr, Edward W. Llewellin, Kyle R. Anderson, Matthew R. PatrickStress-driven recurrence and precursory moment-rate surge in caldera collapse earthquakes
Predicting the recurrence times of earthquakes and understanding the physical processes that immediately precede them are two outstanding problems in seismology. Although geodetic measurements record elastic strain accumulation, most faults have recurrence intervals longer than available measurements. Foreshocks provide the principal observations of processes before mainshocks, but variability betAuthorsPaul Segall, Mark V. Matthews, David R. Shelly, Taiyi Wang, Kyle R. AndersonUnderstanding the drivers of volcano deformation through geodetic model verification and validation
Volcano geodesy often involves the use of models to explain observed surface deformation. A variety of forward models are used, from analytical point sources to numerical simulations that consider complex magma system geometries, topography, and material properties. Various inversion methods can then be used to relate observed volcano data to models. Ideally, forward models should be verified throAuthorsJoshua Allen Crozier, Leif Karlstrom, Emily Montgomery-Brown, Mario Angarita, Valérie Cayol, Mary Grace Bato, Taiyi Wang, Ronni Grapenthin, Tara Shreve, Kyle R. Anderson, Ana Astort, Olivier Bodart, Flavio Cannavò, Gilda Currenti, Farshid Dabaghi, Brittany A. Erickson, Deepak Garg, Matthew Head, Adriana Iozzia, Young Cheol Kim, Hélène Le Mével, Camila Novoa Lizama, Cody Rucker, Francesca Silverii, Yan ZhanThe 2018 eruption of Kīlauea: Insights, puzzles, and opportunities for volcano science
The science of volcanology advances disproportionately during exceptionally large or well-observed eruptions. The 2018 eruption of Kīlauea Volcano (Hawai‘i) was its most impactful in centuries, involving an outpouring of more than one cubic kilometer of basalt, a magnitude 7 flank earthquake, and the volcano’s largest summit collapse since at least the nineteenth century. Eruptive activity was docAuthorsKyle R. Anderson, Tom Shea, Kendra J. Lynn, Emily Montgomery-Brown, Donald A. Swanson, Matthew R. Patrick, Brian Shiro, Christina A. NealRing fault creep drives volcano-tectonic seismicity during caldera collapse of Kīlauea in 2018
Basaltic caldera collapses are episodic, producing very-long-period (VLP) earthquakes up to Mw 5.4, with prolific inter-collapse (between collapses) volcano-tectonic (VT) seismicity. During the 2018 caldera collapse of Kīlauea Volcano, VT seismicity ceased following each collapse, and then accelerated to a quasi-steady rate prior to the next collapse, marking a temporal pattern distinct from typicAuthorsTaiyi A. Wang, Paul Segall, Alicia J. Hotovec-Ellis, Kyle R. Anderson, Peter F. CervelliCoordinating science during an eruption: Lessons from the 2020–2021 Kīlauea volcanic eruption
Data collected during well-observed eruptions can lead to dramatic increases in our understanding of volcanic processes. However, the necessary prioritization of public safety and hazard mitigation during a crisis means that scientific opportunities may be sacrificed. Thus, maximizing the scientific gains from eruptions requires improved planning and coordinating science activities among governmenAuthorsKari M. Cooper, Kyle R. Anderson, Kathy Cashman, Michelle L. Coombs, Hannah R. Dietterich, Tobias Fischer, Bruce F. Houghton, Ingrid Johanson, Kendra J. Lynn, Michael Manga, Christelle WauthierCalibration of imperfect geophysical models by multiple satellite interferograms with measurement bias
Model calibration consists of using experimental or field data to estimate the unknown parameters of a mathematical model. The presence of model discrepancy and measurement bias in the data complicates this task. Satellite interferograms, for instance, are widely used for calibrating geophysical models in geological hazard quantification. In this work, we used satellite interferograms to relate grAuthorsMengyang Gu, Kyle R. Anderson, Erika McPhillipsOptimizing satellite resources for the global assessment and mitigation of volcanic hazards—Suggestions from the USGS Powell Center Volcano Remote Sensing Working Group
A significant number of the world’s approximately 1,400 subaerial volcanoes with Holocene eruptions are unmonitored by ground-based sensors yet constitute a potential hazard to nearby residents and infrastructure, as well as air travel and global commerce. Data from an international constellation of more than 60 current satellite instruments provide a cost-effective means of tracking activity andAuthorsM. E. Pritchard, M. Poland, K. Reath, B. Andrews, M. Bagnardi, J. Biggs, S. Carn, D. Coppola, S.K. Ebmeier, M.A. Furtney, T. Girona, J. Griswold, T. Lopez, P. Lundgren, S. Ogburn, M. Pavolonis, E. Rumpf, G. Vaughan, C. Wauthier, R. Wessels, R. Wright, K.R. Anderson, M.G. Bato, A. RomanIncremental caldera collapse at Kīlauea Volcano recorded in ground tilt and high-rate GNSS data, with implications for collapse dynamics and the magma system
Ground deformation during caldera collapse at Kīlauea Volcano in 2018 was recorded in unprecedented detail on a network of real-time GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) and tilt instruments. Observations informed hazard assessments during the eruption and now yield insight into collapse dynamics and the magma system. The caldera grew in size over 78 days in a series of repeating, quasi-perioAuthorsKyle R. Anderson, Ingrid JohansonCould Kı̄lauea's 2020 post caldera-forming eruption have been anticipated?
In 2018 Kīlauea volcano erupted a decade’s worth of basalt, given estimated magma supply rates, triggering caldera collapse. Yet, less than 2.5 years later Kīlauea re-erupted. At the 2018 eruption onset, pressure within the summit reservoir was ~20 MPa above magmastatic. By the onset of collapse this decreased by ~17 MPa. Analysis of magma surges at the 2018 fissures, following collapse events, imAuthorsPaul Segall, Kyle R. Anderson, Taiyi WangEarthquake-derived seismic velocity changes during the 2018 caldera collapse of Kīlauea volcano
The 2018 Kīlauea caldera collapse produced extraordinary sequences of seismicity and deformation, with 62 episodic collapse events which significantly altered the landscape of the summit region. Despite decades of focused scientific studies at Kīlauea, detailed information about the internal structure of the volcano is limited. Recently developed techniques in seismic interferometry can be used toAuthorsAlicia J. Hotovec-Ellis, Brian Shiro, David R. Shelly, Kyle R. Anderson, Matt Haney, Weston Thelen, Emily Montgomery-Brown, Ingrid JohansonNon-USGS Publications**
P. Segall and K. Anderson (2014), Look up for magma insights, Nature Geoscience, 7 (3), 2 pp., doi:10.1038/ngeo2064Anderson, K. and P. Segall (2011), Physics-based models of ground deformation and extrusion rate at effusively erupting volcanoes, Journal of Geophysical Research, 116 (B7), 20 pp., doi:10.1029/2010JB007939
Anderson, K., M. Lisowski, and P. Segall (2010), Cyclic ground tilt associated with the 2004-2008 eruption of Mount St. Helens, Journal of Geophysical Research, 115 (B11), 29 pp., doi:10.1029/2009JB007102**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
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