Hawaii is the largest island in the United States, located in the eponymous state of Hawaii. It is the southeasternmost of the Hawaiian Islands, a chain of volcanic islands in the North Pacific Ocean. With an area of 4,028 square miles (10,430 km2), it has 63% of the Hawaiian archipelago's combined landmass. However, it has only 13% of the archipelago's population. The island of Hawaiʻi is the third largest island in Polynesia, behind the north and south islands of New Zealand.
Pāhoa is a census-designated place (CDP) in the District of Puna in Hawai‘i County, Hawai‘i, United States. The population was 924 at the 2020 census. The population dropped by 1.8% from 945 in the 2010 census.
Mauna Loa is one of five volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaii in the U.S. state of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. Mauna Loa is Earth's largest active volcano by both mass and volume. It was historically considered to be the largest volcano on Earth until Tamu Massif was discovered to be larger. Mauna Loa is a shield volcano with relatively gentle slopes, and a volume estimated at 18,000 cubic miles (75,000 km3), although its peak is about 125 feet (38 m) lower than that of its neighbor, Mauna Kea. Lava eruptions from Mauna Loa are silica-poor and very fluid, and tend to be non-explosive.
Kīlauea is an active shield volcano in the Hawaiian Islands. It is located along the southeastern shore of Hawaii Island. The volcano is between 210,000 and 280,000 years old and grew above sea level about 100,000 years ago. Since the islands were settled it has been the most active of the five volcanoes that together form the island.
Hualālai is an active volcano on the island of Hawaiʻi in the Hawaiian Islands. It is the westernmost, third-youngest and the third-most active of the five volcanoes that form the island of Hawaiʻi, following Kīlauea and the much larger Mauna Loa. Its peak stands 8,271 feet (2,521 m) above sea level. Hualālai is estimated to have risen above sea level about 300,000 years ago. Despite maintaining a very low level of activity since its last eruption in 1801, and being unusually inactive for the last 2,000 years, Hualālai is still considered active, and is expected to erupt again sometime in the next 100 years. The relative unpreparedness of the residents in the area caused by the lull in activity would worsen an eruption's consequences.
Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park is an American national park located in the U.S. state of Hawaii on the island of Hawaii. The park encompasses two active volcanoes: Kīlauea, one of the world's most active volcanoes, and Mauna Loa, the world's largest shield volcano. The park provides scientists with insight into the development of the Hawaiian Islands and access for studies of volcanism. For visitors, the park offers dramatic volcanic landscapes, glimpses of rare flora and fauna, and a view into the traditional Hawaiian culture connected to these landscapes.
Thomas Augustus Jaggar Jr. was an American volcanologist. He founded the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and directed it from 1912 to 1940. The son of Thomas Augustus Jaggar, Jaggar Jr. graduated with a PhD in geology from Harvard University in 1897. In 1902, he was one of the scientists that the United States sent to investigate the volcanic disasters at La Soufrière volcano, St Vincent, and Mont Pelée, Martinique, which he credited with inspiring him to make a life's work out of geology. He became head of the department of geology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1906.
The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) is an agency of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and one of five volcano observatories operating under the USGS Volcano Hazards Program. Based in Hilo, Hawaii, the observatory monitors six Hawaiian volcanoes: Kīlauea, Mauna Loa, Kamaʻehuakanaloa, Hualālai, Mauna Kea, and Haleakalā, of which, Kīlauea and Mauna Loa are the most active. The observatory has a worldwide reputation as a leader in the study of active volcanism. Due to the relatively non-explosive nature of Kīlauea's volcanic eruptions for many years, scientists have generally been able to study ongoing eruptions in proximity without being in extreme danger.
Puʻu ʻŌʻō is a volcanic cone on the eastern rift zone of Kīlauea volcano in the Hawaiian Islands. The eruption that created Puʻu ʻŌʻō began on January 3, 1983, and continued nearly continuously until April 30, 2018, making it the longest-lived rift-zone eruption of the last two centuries.
Puna is one of the 9 districts of Hawaii County on the Island of Hawaiʻi. It is located on the windward side of the island and shares borders with South Hilo district in the north and Kaʻū district in the west. With a size of just under 320,000 acres (1,300 km2) or 500 sq. miles, Puna is slightly smaller than the island of Kauaʻi.
Lava lakes are large volumes of molten lava, usually basaltic, contained in a volcanic vent, crater, or broad depression. The term is used to describe both lava lakes that are wholly or partly molten and those that are solidified.
Kapoho, Hawaii, is a now-uninhabited unincorporated area in Puna district, Hawaii County, Hawaii, US, located near the eastern tip of the island of Hawaii, in the easternmost subaerial end of the graben overlying Kīlauea's east rift zone. Originally destroyed by an eruption of Kīlauea in 1960, it was rebuilt as a community of private homes and vacation rentals. The town was again destroyed by lava during the 2018 lower Puna eruption, this time with the bay largely buried by lava as well.
Halemaʻumaʻu is a pit crater within the much larger Kīlauea Caldera at the summit of Kīlauea volcano on island of Hawaiʻi. The roughly circular crater was 770 meters (2,530 ft) x 900 m (2,950 ft) before collapses that roughly doubled the size of the crater after May 3, 2018. Following the collapses of 2018, the bottom of Halemaʻumaʻu was roughly 600 m (2,000 ft) below the caldera floor. Halemaʻumaʻu is home to Pele, goddess of fire and volcanoes, according to the traditions of Hawaiian religion. Halemaʻumaʻu means "house of the ʻāmaʻu fern".
On May 4, 2018, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.9 struck Hawaii island in the Hawaii archipelago at around 12:33 p.m. local time. The earthquake's epicenter was near the south flank of Kīlauea, which has been the site of seismic and volcanic activity since late April of that year. According to the United States Geological Survey the quake was related to the new lava outbreaks at the volcano, and it resulted in the Hilina Slump moving about two feet. It was the largest earthquake to affect Hawaii since the 1975 earthquake, which affected the same region, killing two people and injuring another 28.
The 2018 lower Puna eruption was a volcanic event on the island of Hawaiʻi, on Kīlauea volcano's East Rift Zone that began on May 3, 2018. It is related to the larger eruption of Kīlauea that began on January 3, 1983, though some volcanologists and USGS scientists have discussed whether to classify it as a new eruption. Outbreaks of lava fountains up to 300 feet (90 m) high, lava flows, and volcanic gas in the Leilani Estates subdivision were preceded by earthquakes and ground deformation that created cracks in the roads.
The 2022 eruption of Mauna Loa was an episode of eruptive volcanic activity at Mauna Loa, the world's largest active volcano, located on Hawaiʻi island, Hawaiʻi. Mauna Loa began to erupt shortly before midnight HST on November 27, 2022, when lava flows emerged from fissure vents in Moku‘āweoweo. It marked the first eruption at the volcano in 38 years. The eruption ended on December 13, 2022, after more than two weeks.
Michelle Lynn Coombs is a geologist at the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO). She was the Scientist-in-Charge from 2016 to 2023. Coombs is a fellow of the Geological Society of America.
Kenneth Hon, usually known professionally as Ken Hon, is a geologist and the 21st Scientist-in-Charge (SIC) of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO), serving since 2021; succeeding Tina Neal (SIC) and David Phillips. Hon has often been a contact from the Observatory to the news media, and as such is often quoted as an authority figure in the field of Hawaiian volcanology.
James Puupai Kauahikaua was an American geophysicist and volcanologist who served as the 19th Scientist-in-Charge of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory from October 2004 to March 2015. He was the first Scientist-in-Charge at the Observatory to be of Hawaiian ancestry.
Ruy Herbert Finch was an American volcanologist, and second director of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) from 1940 to 1951, succeeding Thomas A. Jaggar. Finch is known largely for his discovery of the 1790 Footprints. Another notable scientific contribution by Finch was the formal addition of block lava to the lava classification types. In 1951, a group of scientists that included Finch were named in the journal Science as "outstanding authorities in their respective fields".
