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Volcano Hazards Program

Find U.S. Volcano

There are about 170 potentially active volcanoes in the U.S. The mission of the USGS Volcano Hazards Program is to enhance public safety and minimize social and economic disruption from volcanic unrest and eruption through our National Volcano Early Warning System. We deliver forecasts, warnings, and information about volcano hazards based on a scientific understanding of volcanic behavior.

News

How tall are you really? Establishing Mount Shasta's summit elevation in the 20th century

How tall are you really? Establishing Mount Shasta's summit elevation in the 20th century

Volcano Watch — HVO and Collaborators Continue Seismic Surveys Across the Active Volcanoes of Hawaii

Volcano Watch — HVO and Collaborators Continue Seismic Surveys Across the Active Volcanoes of Hawaii

Volcano Watch — STEM and suction solutions at HVO

Volcano Watch — STEM and suction solutions at HVO

Publications

Using ground crack and very low frequency measurements to map the location of the June 2007 Father’s Day dike, Kīlauea Volcano

An intrusion into Kīlauea’s upper East Rift Zone during June 17–19, 2007, during the 1983–2018 Pu‘u‘ō‘ō eruption, led to widespread ground cracking and a small (approximately 1,525 cubic meters) eruption on the northeast flank of Kānenuiohamo, a cone about 6 kilometers upslope from Pu‘u‘ō‘ō. Transmitted and induced very low frequency (VLF) magnetic fields were measured with a handheld VLF receiver
Authors
Tim R. Orr, James P. Kauahikaua, Christina Heliker

Tracking magma pathways and surface faulting in the Southwest Rift Zone and the Koaʻe fault system (Kīlauea volcano, Hawai ‘i) using photogrammetry and structural observations

Volcanic islands are often subject to flank instability, resulting from a combination of magmatic intrusions along rift zones and gravitational spreading causing extensional faulting at the surface. Here, we study the Koaʻe fault system (KFS), located south of the summit caldera of Kīlauea volcano in Hawaiʻi, one of the most active volcanoes on Earth, prone to active faulting, episodic dike intrus
Authors
Stefano Mannini, Joël Ruch, Richard W. Hazlett, Drew T. Downs, Carolyn Parcheta, Steven P. Lundblad, James Anderson, Ryan L. Perroy, Nicolas Oestreicher

2021 Volcanic activity in Alaska and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands—Summary of events and response of the Alaska Volcano Observatory

In 2021, the Alaska Volcano Observatory responded to eruptions, volcanic unrest or suspected unrest, increased seismicity, and other significant activity at 15 volcanic centers in Alaska and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Eruptive activity in Alaska consisted of repeated small, ash-producing, phreatomagmatic explosions from Mount Young on Semisopochnoi Island; an explosion at Gr
Authors
Tim R. Orr, Hannah R. Dietterich, David Fee, Társilo Girona, Ronni Grapenthin, Matthew M. Haney, Matthew W. Loewen, John J. Lyons, John A. Power, Hans F. Schwaiger, David J. Schneider, Darren Tan, Liam Toney, Valerie K. Wasser, Christopher F. Waythomas