By ppearsall@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jul 11, 2025.

Hawai‘i’s iconic beaches—essential to the state’s identity, economy, and ecosystems—are disappearing faster than previously predicted. New projections of shoreline change by the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa and USGS finds that 81% of sandy shorelines on the island of O‘ahu could be lost by the end of the century, with nearly 40% of that loss occurring within just the next five years.

By kmulliken@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jul 10, 2025.

The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) maintains a network of nearly 150 monitoring instruments on Kīlauea, which track activity above and below the surface. The ongoing high fountain eruption episodes in Halemaʻumaʻu present new challenges to maintaining parts of the Kīlauea summit monitoring network near and immediately downwind of the eruptive vents. 

By jlawson@contractor.usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jul 10, 2025.

The landscape of the Prairie Pothole Region of North and South Dakota formed when glaciers from the last ice age receded. The potholes are shallow depressional wetlands left behind by the glaciers now popular with migratory waterfowl.

By kmulliken@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jul 09, 2025.

Episode 28 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption began at 4:10 a.m. HST on July 9, 2025, and ended abruptly just over 9 hours later, at 1:20 p.m. HST.

By mpoland@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jul 08, 2025.

An earthquake swarm that started at Mount Rainier on July 8, 2025, is the largest ever recorded at the volcano.

By jlball@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jul 08, 2025.

The USGS California Volcano Observatory is saddened to announce the death of Edward Wesley (Wes) Hildreth III, in a vehicle accident on June 19, 2025, in rural western Nevada near Long Valley Caldera.  

By emalakoff@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jul 07, 2025.

Beneath the Western U.S. lies a vast, largely untapped reservoir of energy: geothermal heat.  

By shouse@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jul 07, 2025.

Title:  Climate change and the global redistribution of biodiversity: are expected range shifts supported by the evidence?

Speaker:  Sarah Weiskopf, Ph.D., Research Ecologist, National Climate Adaptation Science Center

Date:  Friday, July 11, 2:00-2:30 pm Eastern/11:00 -11:30 am Pacific

By evarelaminder@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jul 07, 2025.

The Climate Change, Climate Variability, and Drought (CCVD) portfolio, a decision support and education tool developed by the Pacific Drought Knowledge Exchange (PDKE), provides users with a comprehensive synthesis of site-specific climate and drought information within the Hawaiian Islands. 

By mpoland@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jul 07, 2025.

In geology, even small layers can tell big stories.  But figuring out the origins of such small layers can be a challenge, requiring careful mapping and dating of rock units that might easily be overlooked.

By nschmer@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jul 03, 2025.

USGS groundwater and surface water monitoring data contributed to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection's (PaDEP) July 2, 2025, lifting of drought watches for eight counties that were previously in a drought watch. 

By kmulliken@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jul 03, 2025.

If you’ve been following the ongoing eruption of Kīlauea, you may have seen the terms "gas piston" or "gas pistoning" show up in some of the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) updates, photo captions, and other places. 

By kkovacs@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jul 03, 2025.

A USGS-led expedition in the Aleutian Arc off Alaska will provide critical information on energy resources, underwater earthquakes and other hazards, seafloor habitats, and biological resources, including key fisheries, as well as potential seabed minerals.

By kkovacs@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jul 03, 2025.

A USGS-led expedition in the Aleutian Arc off Alaska will provide critical information on energy resources, underwater earthquakes and other hazards, seafloor habitats, and biological resources, including key fisheries, as well as potential seabed minerals. Scientists are collecting critical environmental data using an oceanographic tool known as a CTD. 

By dfisher@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jul 02, 2025.

In this Summer 2025 edition: Western Maryland Flooding • Chesapeake Bay Watershed Loads & Trends • New Gages • New Publications

By ssoileau@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jul 02, 2025.

Friday's Findings is a public webinar series hosted by the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area. These half hour webinars are meant to provide listeners an overview of the science topic and chance to ask questions. We hope to offer our audience an opportunity to discover the Ecosystems science capacity within the USGS.

By kkovacs@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jul 01, 2025.

A USGS-led expedition in the Aleutian Arc off Alaska will provide critical information on energy resources, underwater earthquakes and other hazards, seafloor habitats, and biological resources, including key fisheries, as well as potential seabed minerals. To do this, the science team is using the human-occupied vehicle known as Alvin to reach the seafloor. 

By ppearsall@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jul 01, 2025.

Coastal communities around the world face increasing threats from storm surges—intense rises in sea level caused by powerful storms pushing water ashore. A new study using advanced statistical modeling and historical sea-level observational data shows that the likelihood of these events occurring is much higher than previously estimated along U.S. coasts.

By jburton@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jul 01, 2025.

As vibrant fireworks light up the sky this Fourth of July, many may find themselves intrigued by the secrets behind their dazzling colors. The magic lies in the minerals!

By jrichie@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jul 01, 2025.

Earth planning date: Monday, June 16, 2025

Over the weekend Curiosity successfully wrapped up activities at the “Altadena” drill site and got back on the road. The approximately 48-meter drive (about 157 feet) was successful, and placed the rover in the next mapping quadrangle (informally referred to as a quad). 

By jlball@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jul 01, 2025.

California's volcanoes may be relatively quiet nowadays, but they're still important places to study and monitor - especially ones that are close to major population centers in the state. 

By kkovacs@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jul 01, 2025.

A USGS-led expedition in the Aleutian Arc off Alaska will provide critical information on energy resources, underwater earthquakes and other hazards, seafloor habitats, and biological resources, including key fisheries, as well as potential seabed minerals. Scientists aboard the expedition are studying coral and sponge reproduction. 

By ppearsall@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jul 01, 2025.

Using USGS data, the U.S. Department of Defense's (DoD) Regional Sea Level Database supports DoD efforts to assess and respond to coastal infrastructure exposures and vulnerabilities from plausible scenarios of future mean sea level and extreme, storm-driven water levels. 

By kmulliken@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jun 30, 2025.

Episode 27 of the ongoing eruption in Halemaʻumaʻu began at 9:05 a.m. on June 29 and ended11 hours later, at 7:54 p.m. HST. 

By kkovacs@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jun 30, 2025.

A USGS-led expedition in the Aleutian Arc off Alaska will provide critical information on energy resources, underwater earthquakes and other hazards, seafloor habitats, and biological resources, including key fisheries, as well as potential seabed minerals. The science team is investigating a large, mostly submerged volcano that erupted explosively in 2016-2017.

By mpoland@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jun 30, 2025.

The recent death of a bison at Grand Prismatic Spring is an emphatic example of the danger posed by thermal areas in Yellowstone National Park.  But there are some common misconceptions about what makes the hot springs so dangerous.

By kmulliken@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jun 27, 2025.

A USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory helicopter monitoring overflight of the summit of Kīlauea on June 27 provided aerial overview of the eruption site in Kaluapele, as well as a view into the north vent. 

By kmulliken@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jun 27, 2025.

The F1cam, KWcam, and continuous laser rangefinder went offline on March 26 of this year, as tephra fallout from lava fountaining during episode 15 of the ongoing Kīlauea summit eruption damaged the monitoring infrastructure. The instruments were recently reinstalled with permission from Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park at a location on the rim farther away from the active vents.

By wandrews@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Jun 27, 2025.

The USGS Actionable & Strategic Integrated Science & Technology (ASIST) Initiative hosted a science co-development virtual workshop on June 24-25, 2025, for external partners and USGS subject matter experts in the Colorado River Basin. The workshop provided partners with a synopsis of the 2023 Co-development workshop series and sought feedback about seed projects funded by the ASIST initiative.

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

The spectacular series of Kīlauea eruption episodes over the past six months has been remarkably safe for public viewing, but a simple change in the wind or brief vent collapse could cause dramatic changes in the hazards the volcano presents.