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Temporary outage of volcano monitoring data plots

By kmulliken@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jan 06, 2026.

Volcano monitoring data plots are temporarily unavailable on the USGS website due to a server malfunction. USGS staff are working on resolving the issue, but it may be several days before it is resolved. Internally, volcano monitoring data is accessible and USGS staff are able to monitor volcanic activity. We apologize for this temporary outage and hope to have it resolved soon. 

 

Is it just me, or is it quiet? A seismically uneventful year for Long Valley

By jlball@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jan 06, 2026.

The beginning of a new year is often a time for reflection about the highlights of the previous one. Seismologists reflect on large or impactful earthquakes, volcanologists on the highest ash plumes or lava fountains… but those of us at CalVO are marveling at just how uneventful 2025 was, at least as far as earthquakes near our volcanoes are concerned.

The Human Side of Recreational Fisheries: CASC Authors Contribute to New Open Access Book

By cduzet@contractor.usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jan 06, 2026.

A new open access book featuring contributions from CASC authors examines recreational fisheries through a social-ecological lens, highlighting how integrating social science with ecological research can support more sustainable fisheries management.

Photo & Video Chronology — December 23, 2025 — Mauna Loa overflight and Kīlauea episode 39

By kmulliken@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jan 05, 2026.

USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists conducted an overflight of Mauna Loa, and serviced Mauna Loa webcams, on December 23. That night, Kīlauea began its 39th lava fountaining episode, one year to the day from when the eruption began. 

Innovative and actionable science that informs decision making for our vast and dynamic U.S. drylands

By shouse@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jan 05, 2026.

Title:  Using new tools for old problems: Innovative and actionable science that informs decision making for our vast and dynamic U.S. drylands

Date:  January 9, 2026, at 2:00-2:30 pm Eastern/11:00 -11:30 am Pacific 

Speaker:  Sasha Reed, Research Ecologist, USGS Southwest Biological Science Center

The top Yellowstone geological stories of 2025

By mpoland@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jan 05, 2026.

With 2026 having arrived, Caldera Chronicles looks back on the past year of geological stories in Yellowstone National Park

Volcano Watch — Hau’oli Makahiki Hou: a round-up of fireworks from Kīlauea’s fountains

By kmulliken@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jan 02, 2026.

Kīlauea has been providing “fireworks” all year long on the Island of Hawaiʻi, and today we present a summary in commemoration of the New Year. 

The Golden Trout Creek volcanic field: Anything but fishy!

By jlball@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Dec 30, 2025.

Like the Big Pine volcanic field, the Golden Trout Creek volcanic field holds a group of olivine basalt scoria cones and lava flows with several rhyolite lava domes interspersed. 

New England WSC Products in the Fourth Quarter of 2025

By smieszek@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Dec 30, 2025.

List of products from the New England Water Science Center released in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Northeast CASC Research Ecologist Toni Lyn Morelli Spearheads Special Issue on Climate Refugia

By cduzet@contractor.usgs.gov from All News. Published on Dec 30, 2025.

From Maine’s Acadia National Park to the wilds of Australia, geological conditions exist that slow the effects of climate change on the local ecology and inhabitants. How these “climate refugia” remain relatively protected from climate change impacts over time, and how they might help local plant and animal species survive, is a focus of Northeast CASC Research Ecologist, Toni Lyn Morelli. 

Helping the California Winter Rice Habitat Incentive Program increase bird use of winter-flooded rice fields

By esanchez-chopitea@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Dec 29, 2025.

The Central Valley of California provides important habitat for waterbirds (waterfowl, shorebirds, and wading birds).

Duckling survival is higher if nests are closer to wetland habitats flooded during the summer

By esanchez-chopitea@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Dec 29, 2025.

California’s breeding populations of dabbling ducks have declined and the factors contributing to these declines have not been identified. 

Preserving a Legacy: The Chan Robbins Records Project

By meganevans@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Dec 29, 2025.

The Eastern Ecological Science Center (EESC) successfully transferred Chandler “Chan” Robbins’ extensive archives from Patuxent Wildlife Research Center to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Museum and Archives at NCTC, ensuring their permanent preservation and accessibility. 

Idaho’s forgotten eruptions—the Challis volcanics

By mpoland@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Dec 29, 2025.

Although the Yellowstone hotspot burned a swath of volcanic chaos across southern Idaho during the past 17 million years, it was an earlier period of volcanism, unrelated to Yellowstone, that shaped the geology of central Idaho.

Volcano Watch — “It’s a twister!” Or is it? Unraveling Kīlauea’s Volcanic Whirlwinds

By kmulliken@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Dec 26, 2025.

Despite the popularity of "Wicked" lately, we’re not talking about that particular twister. We’re talking about the tornado- or whirlwind-like phenomenon that has shown up frequently over the past year of eruptive episodes at Kīlauea’s summit.

December 26, 2025—Kīlauea daily update

By mzoeller@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Dec 26, 2025.

The Volcano Notification Service—the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory's normal means for posting volcanic activity updates—remains down as a result of an outage that began on December 25. In its absence, below is the Kīlauea daily update for December 26, 2025.

December 25, 2025—Volcano Notification Service outage and Kīlauea daily update

By mzoeller@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Dec 25, 2025.

The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory regrettably informs of an outage this morning affecting the Volcano Notification Service, the normal means for posting volcanic activity updates. In its absence, below is the Kīlauea daily update for December 25, 2025. We wish all our followers a merry Christmas and happy holidays as we await the next lava fountaining episode, likely about two weeks away.

Commemorating a fountain-filled year at Kīlauea

By kmulliken@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Dec 23, 2025.

Today marks one year since a unique episodic lava fountaining eruption began at Kīlauea’s summit on December 23, 2024—a style of activity not seen in nearly 40 years! Over the past 12 months, Halemaʻumaʻu crater has hosted more than 35 eruptive episodes, each lasting from a few hours to more than a week, separated by quiet pauses.

ASTER Data Archive: Now Processed, Ready and Waiting for You

By jlawson@contractor.usgs.gov from All News. Published on Dec 22, 2025.

Your wait is over, ASTER users.

For years, you have patiently ordered ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) granules or images and waited for them to be processed before you could use them in your projects.

How does getting them immediately sound instead? 

The story of the Gallatin Range—magnificent mountains northwest of Yellowstone Caldera

By mpoland@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Dec 22, 2025.

Mountain building occurred all around the Yellowstone region and highlights a tortured geological history of uplift and volcanism.  The Gallatin Range, just northeast of Yellowstone Caldera, is an excellent example.

Photo & Video Chronology — December 19, 2025 — New V3cam and overflight of Kīlauea summit

By kmulliken@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Dec 19, 2025.

USGS scientists conducted a monitoring overflight of Halemaʻumaʻu crater, at the summit of Kīlauea volcano, on December 19, 2025, during which a new V3cam was deployed on the south rim of the crater. 

The USGS Oregon Water Science Center measures high flows near you

By lhoaks@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Dec 19, 2025.

USGS responds to high flows in Oregon.

Volcano Watch — One year of Kīlauea’s episodic summit fountaining: highlighting the hazards

By kmulliken@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Dec 18, 2025.

On December 23, 2024, a unique eruption began in Kīlauea’s Halemaʻumaʻu crater, with a style of activity not seen for nearly 40 years. The eruption, characterized by high lava-fountaining episodes, has continued for nearly a year. Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park visitors see remarkable views, but the latest episode reminds us how quickly hazards associated with this dynamic activity can change.

Oceanographic Instrumentation Detects Layers of Plankton Migration off Puerto Rico

By ppearsall@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Dec 18, 2025.

Beneath the surface of the ocean, vast layers of planktonic life are constantly on the move—rising, sinking, spreading, and regrouping in response to light, predators, currents, and storms. This epic choreography is sometimes called the largest mass migration on earth, and it happens every day, out of our view.

USGS topoBuilder Surpasses One Million Custom Topo Maps

By srodriguez@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Dec 18, 2025.

Mapping in your hands with the topoBuilder application

Trees Act Their Size, Not Their Age

By cduzet@contractor.usgs.gov from All News. Published on Dec 18, 2025.

Red spruce forests, once widespread across the central and southern Appalachians, now persist only in scattered fragments on mountaintops. Researchers are partnering with local community groups to restore the spruce forest’s structure, creating resilient habitat for wildlife, while also protecting clean water, carbon storage, and outdoor recreation in the Central Appalachians.

Partnership Selections for the 2025 3D National Topography Model Data Collaboration Announcement

By ajonesi@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Dec 18, 2025.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has released the list of selected projects under the 2025 3D National Topography Model Data Collaboration Announcement, aimed at advancing data acquisition efforts for the 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) and the 3D Hydrography Program (3DHP).

USGS releases assessment of undiscovered gas resources in Gulf Coast’s Haynesville Formation

By samgott@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Dec 17, 2025.

RESTON, Va. — The U.S. Geological Survey released its assessment of potential for undiscovered gas and oil in the Haynesville Formation underlying the onshore Gulf of America and adjoining state waters, assessing that there are technically recoverable resources of 47.9 trillion cubic feet of gas and 152 million barrels of oil.  

A View of Vigorous Growth: Williston, North Dakota

By jlawson@contractor.usgs.gov from All News. Published on Dec 17, 2025.

When we think of growth across the United States, we tend to think of medium or large cities with suburbs that expand into the surrounding area, such as cropland or forest or even desert. But growth happens in small towns, too—sometimes quite quickly for very specific reasons.

EESC in the News: Coastal Experts Evaluate Management Options for Mississippi/Alabama Coastline

By meganevans@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Dec 17, 2025.

By National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS)

NOAA Website, Dec. 17, 2025

Coastal Experts Evaluate Management Options for Mississippi/Alabama Coastline

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