#Global Positioning System

Ta‘ū volcano in American Samoa experienced volcanic unrest in the form of an earthquake swarm that was felt throughout the Manuʻa Islands (Ofu-Olosega and Ta‘ū Islands) from late July through early September 2022.

Feeling occasional earthquakes is part of the experience of living in the State of Hawaiʻi, especially on the Island of Hawai‘i.  The vast majority of felt earthquakes are small, but the less common large earthquakes can be damaging, so it is important to be prepared. 

HVO’s new physical volcanology laboratory will be able to quickly process eruption samples, providing insights during an eruption crisis. Ultimately, this can lead to better constraints on eruption models and allow scientists to provide better hazard assessments.

The ongoing eruption at the summit of Kīlauea hasn’t made the news recently, but that doesn’t mean the recent eruptive activity hasn’t been noteworthy.  It’s just been operating quietly in the background, without much fanfare.

Typically, in a given year, 40–50 volcanoes erupt, or a bit less than 10% of the world’s active volcanoes.  Let’s take a look at a few of Kīlauea’s notable contemporaries this year.

The year 1916 not only marked the birth of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, but also is remembered for the eruption of the Honamalino flow from the Southwest Rift Zone (SWRZ) of Mauna Loa 106 years ago.

HVO, in collaboration with the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, will begin an investigation this summer to learn more about the nature of these frequent, deep earthquakes beneath the southern part of the Island of Hawaiʻi.

May 3rd marked the 4th anniversary of the start of Kīlauea’s historic 2018 eruption that covered much of lower Puna with lava flows and dropped the crater floor of the summit.

Earth Day was first established on April 22, 1970, to raise awareness of some of the harmful effects industrialization was having on the environment. It has since become the largest secular observance on the planet.  

Disturbances to a magma or lava body—such as Kīlauea Volcano’s underground summit magma reservoir or its current lava lake—can occur for a variety of reasons, including rising gas pockets or the fall of wall rocks into a lava lake. When a body of magma or lava is disturbed, the fluid in it can respond by vibrating or sloshing in a variety of ways.

Communities on the Island of Hawai‘i continue to recover from Kīlauea’s 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption and summit collapse as does the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO). During the events of 2018, HVO instruments were lost, monitoring infrastructure was impacted, and HVO staff had to evacuate the observatory, which was damaged beyond repair.

Olivine crystals—the beautiful green mineral common in Hawaiian lavas—record when and where magmas move inside Hawaiian volcanoes before they erupt. We can actually use these little crystals like clocks to better understand the magmatic events leading to the December 2020 and September 2021 summit eruptions at Kīlauea.

On the Island of Hawai‘i, lava delta collapse at lava-ocean entries can cause small tsunami that impact areas adjacent to the delta. Slip on the fault underlying Kīlauea’s south flank, associated with M7–8 earthquakes, caused local tsunami in 1868 and 1975 that took lives. These are processes that have happened repeatedly in human history; they will happen again, and their associated hazards deserve our attention.

What are symptoms leading up to an eruption? The main player in monitoring volcanoes is seismicity—the frequency and magnitude of earthquakes.  When magma enters the volcanic edifice, it accumulates and makes space for itself by compressing many tiny void spaces.  Continued filling by magma creates pressure on the walls of reservoirs, causing slip, faults, or cracking in the surrounding brittle rock.  All these motions result in the generation of earthquakes. 

The 2018 lower East Rift Zone and 35-year-long Puʻuʻōʻō eruptions of Kīlauea had large impacts on the Puna District. Many residents were deeply affected by devastating lava flows, earthquakes, gas emissions, and other volcanic hazards. However, it is important to note that these eruptions are dwarfed compared to some past Kīlauea eruptions including the largest identified subaerial flow—‘Ailā‘au.

The County of Maui’s Real Property Assessment, GIS Section, is requesting public assistance in collecting Global Positioning System coordinates on Bench Marks throughout Maui County.

The word ‘radar’ recalls images of a meteorologist forecasting weather, or aircraft blips on a green radar display, as frequently portrayed in the movies. RADAR is an acronym for Radio Detection And Ranging, a tool that has been broadly used since its conception in the early 1900s.

Many people living in the Hawaiian Islands are accustomed to feeling occasional earthquakes since the State of Hawai‘i is one of the most seismically active locations in the United States. Unlike some other earthquake-prone places in the U.S., for example California, where the earthquakes are related to tectonic plates sliding past each other, our earthquakes are related to volcanoes.

Inflation and earthquake activity ramped up prior to Mauna Loa’s 1984 eruption, so much so that in June of 1983, the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory indicated that an eruption could occur during the following year, though the exact timing was unknown.

Mauna Loa erupted forty-six years ago this week, on July 5–6, 1975, in a 20-hour event with vents confined to the summit region (the area above 3,660 m/12,000 ft) and lava flows descending to just below 3,170 m (10,400 ft). This was the first eruption in 25 years, at the time the longest quiet stretch since 1843 (we are currently in the longest stretch at 37 years and counting).