#Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar
Volcano Watch — Where did the September fissure vent lava at Kīlauea’s summit come from?
On Sept. 14–16, 2026, a set of six new eruptive fissure vents opened at Kīlauea summit along the western wall of Halemaʻumaʻu. These vents opened after a period of repressurization of the summit magma storage system that had taken place since the end of episode 54 of the ongoing summit eruption in August.
Volcano Watch: Inflating volcanoes or cloudy data; discerning deformation from noise
Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists are constantly using InSAR (Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar) images and other tools to track the movement of magma within Hawaii’s volcanoes in order to identify the warning signs of impending eruptions.
Volcano Watch: Eruption? Intrusion? What’s the difference?
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.