Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

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

Volcano Watch — HVO bids farewell to its Uēkahuna location

Volcano Watch — HVO bids farewell to its Uēkahuna location

Volcano Watch — What’s been a movin' and a shakin' in Kīlauea’s upper East Rift Zone?

Volcano Watch — What’s been a movin' and a shakin' in Kīlauea’s upper East Rift Zone?

Volcano Watch — Measuring Volcanic Gases: The Answer is Blowin’ in the Wind

Volcano Watch — Measuring Volcanic Gases: The Answer is Blowin’ in the Wind

Publications

Forecasting inundation of catastrophic landslides from precursory creep

Forecasting landslide inundation upon catastrophic failure is crucial for reducing casualties, yet it remains a long-standing challenge owing to the complex nature of landslides. Recent global studies indicate that catastrophic hillslope failures are commonly preceded by a period of precursory creep, motivating a novel scheme to foresee their hazard. Here, we showcase an approach to hindcast lands
Authors
Yuankun Xu, R. Burgmann, David L. George, E..J. Fielding, G.X. Solis-Gordillo, D.B. Yanez-Borja

(Re)Discovering the seismicity of Antarctica: A new seismic catalog for the southernmost continent

We apply a machine learning (ML) earthquake detection technique on over 21 yr of seismic data from on‐continent temporary and long‐term networks to obtain the most complete catalog of seismicity in Antarctica to date. The new catalog contains 60,006 seismic events within the Antarctic continent for 1 January 2000–1 January 2021, with estimated moment magnitudes (⁠Mw ⁠) between −1.0 and 4.5. Most d
Authors
Andres F. Peña Castro, Brandon Schmandt, Jenny Sha Nakai, Richard C. Aster, Julien Chaput

Shallow storage of the explosive Earthquake Flat Pyroclastics magma body, Okataina Volcanic Center, Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand: Evidence from phase-equilibria experiments

Rhyolitic tuffs range widely in their crystal contents from nearly aphyric to crystal-rich, and their crystal cargoes inform concepts of upper crustal magma reservoirs. The Earthquake Flat pyroclastics (Okataina Volcanic Center, Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand) are 10 km3 of rhyolitic tuffs with abundant (~ 40 vol.%) plagioclase and quartz, minor biotite, hornblende, and orthopyroxene, and access
Authors
Elizabeth R. G. Grant, Dawnika Blatter, Thomas W. Sisson, Kari M Cooper