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. 

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.

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. 

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).

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. 

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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? 

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.

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. 

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

USGS responds to high flows in Oregon.

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.

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.

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

Mapping in your hands with the topoBuilder application

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.

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).

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.  

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.

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

Friday’s Findings is a public webinar series hosted by the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area. Each 30-minute session provides an overview of a current science topic and includes an opportunity for attendees to engage directly with USGS scientists through a question-and-answer segment.  Webinars are held from 2:00-2:30 PM Eastern/11:00 -11:30 AM Pacific, unless otherwise noted.

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

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with NASA, has named the new Landsat Science Team that will support the world’s longest-running Earth observation mission for a planned 2026-2030 term. 

By sernst@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Dec 16, 2025.

AGU25 is the world’s largest annual Earth science meeting, bringing together more than 25,000 attendees from over 100 countries to share innovative research and foster global collaboration. If you’re at the meeting this year, attend presentations representing USGS research to learn more about our work and how we benefit the Nation.

By krossos@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Dec 15, 2025.

A recent study by the U.S. Geological Survey demonstrates that measuring nitrogen in stream reaches can identify areas where decreasing nitrogen inputs may improve the water quality of downstream receiving waters.

By mpoland@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Dec 15, 2025.

Beneath Yellowstone's steaming geysers and fumaroles lies a chemical mystery: where did all the sulfur dioxide go?

By lsheng@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Dec 12, 2025.

The U.S. Antarctic Resource Collection is located at the USGS Library in Reston, VA.

By sernst@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Dec 12, 2025.

In a recently published study, USGS scientists assess the accuracy of the Coastal Change Likelihood assessment. Results demonstrate the assessment provides accurate estimates of coastal landscape change in the next decade, consistent with recent observed change. 

By tgross@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Dec 12, 2025.

StreamStats version 4.30.0, released on December 12, 2025, uses all new services that were built with open-source software components. These services perform the work behind the StreamStats application to delineate basins and compute basin characteristics, which are used to estimate streamflow statistics.