Cascades Volcano Observatory

Insights from more than a year of ongoing episodic lava fountaining at Kīlauea

Episodic lava fountaining is rare globally, with only three occurrences from Kīlauea (Hawaii) since 1823. Beginning in December 2024, an eruption within the summit crater, Halemaʻumaʻu, has produced 54 fountaining episodes to date, each lasting typically for hours and separated b...

Satellite observations, plume dynamics, and volcanic lightning from the 2023 eruption of Shishaldin Volcano, Alaska

Abstract The 2023 eruption of Shishaldin Volcano, Alaska, provided an unusually well-monitored example of a “dry” (non-hydromagmatic) explosive basaltic eruption with sustained, buoyant plumes, and pyroclastic density currents. Here, we examine the 13 basaltic paroxysms that occu...

Delayed submarine caldera subsidence creates extreme tsunami hazard

The 2022 Hunga volcano eruption generated one of the largest and most destructive volcanic tsunamis ever recorded. We interpret the timing, nature and relative hazard of volcanic-tsunamigenic processes by combining geophysical, oceanographic, atmospheric, and eye-witness observat...

Storage timescales and the crystal growth history recorded in the layered reservoir of the Unit 3 Kulanaokuaiki Tephra Member of the Uēkahuna Ash from Kīlauea volcano

Abstract The Kulanaokuaiki Tephra Unit 3 (900 C.E.) was a subplinian basaltic scoria eruption, the largest known to have occurred at Kīlauea’s summit. The initiation mechanism and cause(s) of this highly hazardous eruption remain poorly understood, particularly as this style of a...