Hawaiian Volcano Observatory
Observatorio Volcanológico de Hawái
- Date
- 1912 · confidence high
- Place
- Kīlauea, Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii, United States
- Credited to
- Thomas Jaggar and Frank Perret
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What it is
An observatory founded by Thomas Jaggar at the rim of the Halemaʻumaʻu crater to measure seismicity, deformation and gas emission systematically. It is considered the first modern volcano observatory in the United States and a model of continuous volcanic monitoring.
The Vesuvius Observatory (Naples, 1841) predates it as a volcano observatory in general; Hawaii's is the first in the US and the paradigm of 20th-century continuous monitoring.
What it led to
- systematic monitoring of active volcanoes with seismology and geodesy
- eruption forecasting and public warnings
- studies of hotspots and magma