Hawaiian Volcano Observatory

A volcanologist set up a hut on the rim of Kīlauea's crater in 1912 and stayed to measure what the volcano does. The observatory he founded has watched Hawaiian volcanoes ever since, and set the pattern for volcano observatories in the United States.

A volcanologist and a newspaper owner

Thomas Jaggar, a geologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, visited Hawaiʻi in 1909 and began to raise support for an observatory. Lorrin Thurston, a Honolulu newspaper publisher and landowner, helped fund it. Frank Perret recorded Kīlauea's activity in 1911 with help from the Carnegie Institution. Jaggar returned on 17 January 1912, and funded daily operations of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory began on 1 July 1912.

The Observatory was built at the rim of the Halemaʻumaʻu crater on Uwekahuna Bluff, with a view into the lava lake. From there Jaggar and his staff measured seismicity, ground tilt and temperatures, and watched eruptions.

A change of owners, a constant mission

The US Weather Bureau took over operations in 1919, the US Geological Survey in 1924, and in 1947 the USGS became the permanent administrator. Jerry Eaton developed digital seismic telemetry at the observatory in the 1960s, which allowed seismic signals to be sent from remote stations to a central recording site in real time. Tiltmeters, GPS and gas sensors followed.

The mission survived changes of owner because data and people were carried across each handover.

Collapse and relocation

During the Kīlauea eruption of 2018, the summit collapsed and the observatory's buildings were damaged; HVO relocated to Hilo. In 2022 the observatory tracked the eruption of Mauna Loa, the first in 38 years. It monitors the active volcanoes of the island of Hawaiʻi and issues alerts through the USGS Volcano Hazards Program.

Science at the edge of a lava lake

HVO's early staff lived at the crater rim, with the volcano at their door, and the observatory's founder, Jaggar, moved the work from description to measurement: tilt, earthquakes, temperatures, the level of the lava. He also argued that observation should serve the people who lived under the volcano, a view that shaped the US volcano hazards programme. Hawaiian eruptions are mostly effusive, which gives a chance to study them close up, but eruptions elsewhere can be explosive and sudden. HVO's methods, tested in a benign setting, were later applied after the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens and in the monitoring of other volcanoes.

Instruments and technologies

  • Seismic network Seismometers at dozens of stations send their signals to the observatory by radio and internet, to locate earthquakes under the volcanoes.
  • Tiltmeters and GPS Instruments record the swelling and deflation of a volcano as magma moves; GPS receivers track motion of the ground.
  • Gas and thermal monitoring Gas sensors measure sulphur dioxide emission rates, and thermal cameras and satellites measure heat.

The people

  • Thomas A. Jaggar Jr. Founder and first director.
  • Frank Perret Volcanologist whose 1911 observations preceded the observatory.
  • Lorrin A. Thurston Publisher and landowner who helped fund the observatory.
  • Jerry Eaton Seismologist who developed telemetered seismic networks at HVO.

Timeline

  • 1909 Jaggar begins efforts to establish an observatory in Hawaiʻi.
  • 1911 Frank Perret records Kīlauea's activity, with Carnegie Institution support.
  • 1912 Jaggar returns on 17 January; funded daily operations begin on 1 July.
  • 1919 The U.S. Weather Bureau takes over operations.
  • 1924 The U.S. Geological Survey takes over.
  • 1947 The USGS becomes the permanent administrator.
  • 2018 Summit collapse during the Kīlauea eruption damages the buildings; HVO relocates to Hilo.

Key lessons for observation today

  • A mission can outlive its buildings Collapse destroyed the summit buildings, and the work carried on from Hilo. Operations that live in data and people, not in a single building, are resilient.
  • Telemetry turned a hut into a network Real-time telemetry connected remote stations to a central site. Reliable links are the nervous system of any monitoring network.
  • Multiple measurements, one alert Seismic, deformation, gas and thermal data feed one alert level. Fusion with clear thresholds makes data actionable.

Sources

  • USGS, Establishing the first U.S. volcano observatory
  • USGS, HVO history
  • EARTH Magazine, Benchmarks: July 1, 1912
  • Wikipedia, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (secondary)