Cooperative Research

Monitoring & Assessment of Hawaii Volcanoes

CSAV's cooperative research program enables us to work with and provide specialized support to the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, and includes seismologic, geodetic, and geochemical monitoring and analysis. This program, established in 1998 through Senator Daniel Inouye, helps HVO to better fulfill its mission to monitor Hawaii's volcanoes and to manage their potential hazards. The program also helps CSAV in its mission to provide state-of-the-art training in volcano hazards monitoring and to improve public awareness of volcano hazards in Hawaii.

New Internship Program

John O'Brien runs a geodetic survey.

CSAV now has a student internship program, to allow UHH Geology majors the opportunity to work at HVO on research projects. During 2005-2006, John O’Brien worked on computer programs to help analyze HVO’s seismic monitoring network, so as to make a smooth transition from the Caltech-USGS Seismic Processing (CUSP) software to the Earthworm Seismic Software. O’Brien helped with station maintenance, deformation monitoring, and geophysical data recordings.

Daisy Wheeler, Steve Clegg, and Sean O’Neill worked as interns in past years. Read about their projects, and find out details about how to apply for this internship!

Deformation Studies

Loren Antolik notes the level of lava in a skylight. Time-lapse camera will be used to correlate tilt events with lava fluctuations. Photo courtesy USGS/Tim Orr.

In 2001, Ralf Krug developed an integrated data management platform that was the predecessor of VALVE, an innovative archival and real-time database that allows HVO staff to compare seismic amplitude, tilt, and gas emissions on a common time base. Consequently, the deformation computer network needs continual administration. Loren Antolik develops programs that automatically ingest new HVO data sets, and creates routines for plotting the data to allow interactive visualization through VALVE. Antolik also participates in data collection and the maintenance and installation of continuously recording instruments. Read more about deformation projects!

Seismic Analysis

Sarah Abraham (left) is a Seismic Data Analyst. Her duties include scanning the 24-hour seismic drum records and assessing the overall seismicity. She uses computer analysis to determine magnitude and location, and tracks instrument performance, providing status reports to the electronics team. In the lobby of HVO, seismicity is compared with deformation and other data on a series of screens (right) installed by David Whilldin. These screens illustrate the capabilities of the VALVE system.

UHH graduates Jason Meyer (left) and David Whilldin (right) installed broadband seismometers at Kilauea's summit, allowing scientists to collect detailed information over a much larger range of bandwidth than is provided by standard seismometers. Jean Battaglia spent a year at HVO refining a technique using spectral analysis of seismic signals. Frequency channels "light up" on a blue background in proportion to higher amplitudes in discrete frequency bands of the spectrum, enabling the scientists to visualize and analyze the nature of earthquakes and tremor. Read more about seismic projects!

Volcanic Hazards and Society

Chris Gregg analyzes risk.

The Cooperative Research program recently funded research involving volcanology and social science in order to understand 1) the societal factors that influence risk from volcanic hazards in Hawaii and 2) public attitudes toward the mitigation of lava flows with controversial and politically sensitive measures such as earthen barriers. University of Hawaii at Manoa graduate student Chris Gregg analyzed previously lost and forgotten survey data collected during the 1960 eruption of Kilauea volcano in Kapoho in order to understand public attitudes toward lava flow hazard mitigation strategies.  He also worked on two manuscripts that describe the results of a recent survey he conducted in Kona.  This survey addressed issues of community preparedness for and response to lava flows from Mauna Loa and Hualalai.

Geochemical Monitoring

The Coop program has contributed major equipment to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory's geochemical monitoring program, including a COSPEC (correlation spectrometer) and an OP-FTIR (Open-Path Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy.) Both instruments are used to analyze the composition of volcanic gas. Read more about the OP-FTIR!

Geology and Mapping

The Cooperative Research grant allows geologists to assist researchers at HVO. Past assistants have monitored the current eruption of Kilauea and maintained the GIS data base, and developed lava flow risk maps for Mauna Loa. Read details about geology projects!

Public Outreach

Although the Coop Program's primary focus is on research, a percentage of the funding is used for educating the public about the hazards resulting from volcanic eruptions. As the HVO web site states: “The best defense against any natural hazard is education. Residents and public officials should be aware of the hazards in a given area so that they can make rational decisions regarding where to build homes, develop property for commercial use, and locate public facilities. A well-informed public will neither overreact to the hazards nor ignore them.”

Pete Harnish, UH-Hilo Computer Sciences graduate, is refining an interactive software package that plots trajectories of lava flows on the Big Island, using the Harris and Rowland kinematic thermo-rheological FLOGO model. Harnish began this work during a class project under Dr. Keith Edwards; students design products with useful applications in public outreach natural hazards awareness. The current model is preliminary; a finished version will enable first responders to more efficiently deploy resources and manage evacuations during eruption crises.

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Copyright ©2003-2007, Center for the Study of Active Volcanoes, University of Hawai‘i at Hilo.