#H.R. 2157

Although there is a great deal we do not know about what a volcano is about to do, we can make some short-term forecasts based on what is currently happening. These forecasts, even over short periods of time, give people in the path of lava flows the ability to plan, providing critical answers to the questions: “Where’s that lava headed and when will it get there?”

Scientists from the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) and collaborators from the University of South Florida had the unique opportunity to get a peek at the layers inside Ahuʻailāʻau (the cone that formed around fissure 8) with ground penetrating radar (GPR) over the summer.  

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.