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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

Photo and Video Chronology — Annual Mauna Loa GPS campaign underway

Photo and Video Chronology — Annual Mauna Loa GPS campaign underway

Volcano Watch — A fresh look at Kīlauea’s 1924 explosive deposits

Volcano Watch — A fresh look at Kīlauea’s 1924 explosive deposits

Volcano Watch — The blast of the century at Kīlauea

Volcano Watch — The blast of the century at Kīlauea

Publications

To mix or not to mix: Details of magma storage, recharge, and remobilization during the Pacheco stage at Misti Volcano, Peru (≤21–2 ka)

We investigate ten of the most recent tephra-fall deposits emplaced between ≤21–2 ka from the Pacheco stage of Misti volcano, Peru, to elucidate magma dynamics and explosive eruption triggers related to magma storage, recharge, and remobilization. Whole-rock, glass, and mineral textures and compositions indicate the presence of broadly felsic, intermediate, and mafic magmas in a chemically and the
Authors
Marie K. Takach, Frank J. III Tepley, Christopher Harpel, Rigoberto Aguilar, Marco Rivera

Automatic identification and quantification of volcanic hotspots in Alaska using HotLINK: The hotspot learning and identification network

An increase in volcanic thermal emissions can indicate subsurface and surface processes that precede, or coincide with, volcanic eruptions. Space-borne infrared sensors can detect hotspots—defined here as localized volcanic thermal emissions—in near-real-time. However, automatic hotspot detection systems are needed to efficiently analyze the large quantities of data produced. While hotspots have b
Authors
Pablo Saunders-Shultz, Taryn Lopez, Hannah R. Dietterich, Tarsilo Girona

Craters of habit: Patterns of deformation in the western Galápagos

The western Galápagos islands of Fernandina and Isabela comprise six active volcanoes that have deformed since first observed by satellite radar in the early 1990s. We analyse new (2015–2022) displacement time series at Alcedo, Cerro Azul, Darwin, Fernandina, Sierra Negra, and Wolf volcanoes in the context of deformation and unrest since 1992. Previous discussions of volcano deformation have focu
Authors
Eoin Reddin, Susanna K. Ebmeier, Marco Bagnardi, Andrew F. Bell, Pedro Espín Bedón