HAWAII VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK — During the 2018 eruption of Kilauea Volcano, when fissures erupted and lava flowed in the lower East Rift Zone (LERZ), many Puna residents were displaced from their homes. We, as a community, watched from the sidelines as the eruption went on, helpless in averting the course of nature.

VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK — A year ago, USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists and Hawaii Island residents were in the throes of an historically unprecedented series of events for Kilauea.

HAWAII VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK — May 3 marks the one-year anniversary of the start of Kilauea Volcano’s 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption. Over the past year, USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) geologists and collaborators have been closely studying the vast amount of data collected during the summer eruption. Now is a good time to explore what’s been learned, and what’s still unfolding.

HAWAII VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK — In February, the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) released a preliminary map of lava flow thicknesses for Kilauea Volcano’s 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption. This map was produced by comparing pre- and post-eruption models of the flow field.

VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK — A good field geologist is an opportunist. Never content with what outcrops are available, she jumps at the chance to see another one, hoping that it will provide a better understanding to some question about what happened in the past. But it isn’t every day that new outcrops are created, and rarer still when they are on the scale of those formed during the faulting of Kilauea Volcano’s caldera floor in summer 2018.

VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK — Early Wednesday morning, just before 1 a.m., houses in East Hawaii began to shake. Without a doubt, it was an earthquake. To those who endured the near-daily shaking from last summer’s collapse events at Kilauea’s summit, this week’s earthquake was clearly different.

VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK — Eruption rate — how much lava comes out of the ground per unit of time — is probably the best measure of volcanic activity, and the first step in that calculation is to measure lava flow thickness and area.

Since the end of the 2018 lower East Rift Zone (LERZ) eruption on Kilauea Volcano, questions have surfaced concerning how long it will take for the new lava flows to solidify. This is a difficult question to answer, because the initial eruptive temperatures along with many different factors can influence the rate of cooling.

VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK — With the end of Kilauea’s 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption, Hawaii Island was able, at long last, to say goodbye to strong vog — volcanic smog produced by voluminous sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions.

VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK — The 2018 lower East Rift Zone (LERZ) eruption of Kilauea brought an end to the 35-plus year eruption at Puu Oo. With the draining of the summit and the collapse of Puu Oo, Puna residents were concerned that the eruption in the LERZ could be long-lived.

VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK — One of the most frequent questions asked of USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) scientists the last several months has been, “Is the Lower East Rift eruption over?” But the same question could – and should – be asked of the Puu Oo eruption.