Sin-Mei Wu

Fifty years ago this month, the largest Hawaii earthquake of the 20th and 21st centuries occurred. Earthquake shaking, as well as ground subsidence and local tsunami, contributed to a catastrophic sequence of events on November 29, 1975. Learn more in this week's #VolcanoWatch article: usgs.gov/observatories/…

Our new publication at AGU Advances made it to Editor’s Highlights on EOS! 🌋🤩 We monitor Kīlauea’s subsurface properties and found interesting episodes of magmatic dynamics starting in late 2016. The paper is open access. eos.org/editor-highlig…

Inclined lava fountaining continues as of 5:30 p.m. on August 22 during episode 31 of Kīlauea’s summit eruption. Lava fountains from the north vent are extending about 300 meters (1000 feet) laterally, going eastward towards the center of Halemaʻumaʻu crater. Parts of Halemaʻumaʻu crater floor are being blanketed with tephra or covered with lava flows. The south vent is also erupting, with lower-level activity. Inclined lava fountains have been observed before on Kīlauea, in both the Kīlauea Iki (1959) and Maunaulu eruptions (1969) that featured similar episodes of lava fountaining. In both previous cases, the inclined fountains were caused by temporary obstructions within the eruptive vents, usually collapse of part of the vent or surrounding cone. Today’s incline could be caused by construction of an inner cone during the precursory activity before the start of the episode. It’s similar to if you’ve ever put your thumb over a garden hose, causing the water to spray out of the hose at an angle. #usgs #HVO #Kilauea #lava

Small eruption from Black Diamond Pool, site of a hydrothermal explosion on July 23, 2024, captured by new webcam on May 31 at 8:39 pm MDT! Reported as part of the YVO monthly update (June 2, 2025, 11:04 a.m. MDT): ow.ly/tXKJ50W2P9C Activity remains at background levels.

Kilauea Message 2025-06-04 13:53:43 HST: Episode 24 is likely to begin today or tomorrow. The forecast window has been extended as summit inflation continues and forecast models are updated with new data. Magma is close to the surface and precursory low-level activity continues.

Continuous infrasound (low-frequency acoustic) monitoring is now established in Yellowstone. And the method is detecting activity that goes well beyond geyser eruptions... Today's #Yellowstone #CalderaChronicles is out of this world! ow.ly/9OO650VY7GI

I am excited to share that I will join the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences @UTAustin in August 2026, as an Assistant Professor of Geophysics. I will be looking for graduate students and postdocs to join my Geophysical Mechanics group

Though there aren’t as many earthquakes around Kīlauea summit during the ongoing eruption, the ground below Kaluapele is not exactly quiet. Learn about some of the interesting signals observed during the pauses in this week's Volcano Watch article: usgs.gov/observatories/…

Kīlauea summit lava fountains were active for about 10 hours during episode 22. V2cam captured the views shown here, just before sunrise on May 16. In case you missed the news, HVO installed another livestream camera, the V3cam, available here: url.usgs.gov/v3cam

*Deadline extended* for 3 PhD opportunities at ETH Zurich (@ETH_en) on a fault activation experiment on a natural Alpine fault zone. To find out more, and to apply, visit jobs.ethz.ch/job/view/JOPG_…, jobs.ethz.ch/job/view/JOPG_…, and jobs.ethz.ch/job/view/JOPG_… Please share 🚀

Check it out ☺️ sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

The TAO journal is calling for the research paper submission of the recent M6.4 earthquake in SW Taiwan.

How are the images of magma reservoirs beneath #Yellowstone created? Turns out, a game show has the answer. Or is it the question? I'll take "#CalderaChronicles" for 100 please, Alex! ow.ly/7yQX50UMSlZ @YellowstoneNPS @EarthScope_sci

Our work about Cascades magma storage is out. Large volumes of melt seems prevalent beneath a lot of Cascades volcanoes.

Can seismic data track Arctic sea-ice concentration? Yes! We find a significant increase in microseism over the past 30+ years, largely reflecting the decline in sea ice. We achieve this utilizing just a single seismic station. doi.org/10.1029/2024GL… by Chen, Park and MacAyeal

Kīlauea volcano's eruption resumed this morning 1/15/25, and the park is busy! Eruption viewing and safety tips here: go.nps.gov/11ug27 NPS Photo/J.Wei

The pressure is on, within Kīlauea and for volcanologists to foretell what's next at the volcano! Read about it in #VolcanoWatch (usgs.gov/observatories/…) or a more detailed Information Statement (volcanoes.usgs.gov/hans-public/no…).

🌋 Passionate about #volcano , #MachineLearning, & cutting-edge research? Join our #PhD program @CUHKofficial 🇭🇰 with @UniofExeter 🇬🇧! 🔬 Forecasting volcanic eruptions using AI & physics-based models 💰 Fully funded with a Postgraduate Studentship ℹ️ geoyanzhan.org/opportunities/

#VolcanoWatch this week summarizes Kīlauea eruptive activity in 2024, including the new eruption! Read more: usgs.gov/observatories/…

Nice lava fountains from the current eruption of Kīlauea. This is a view (via telephoto lens) of the activity from Volcano House. Live stream at youtube.com/watch?v=WTy3dG….