Rapa Nui and Hawai‘i offer a tale of two island settlements: Hawai‘i was close enough to Asia for continental dust to help replenish soil nutrients depleted by agriculture. Rapa Nui wasn’t.
Hawaii
Posted inNews
Hundreds of Volcanic Explosions Detected Underwater at Kīlauea
Hundreds of volcanic explosions detected underwater at Kīlauea
The explosions, identified during the 2018 eruption phase, offer a clear acoustic signal that researchers could use to measure ocean properties.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Volcanic Tremor and Deformation at Kīlauea
Two new studies investigate activity at Hawaii’s Kīlauea leading up to and following the 2018 eruption to better understand the volcano’s plumbing and behavior.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Revealing Complexity of Groundwater Flow with Hydrogeophysics
A combination of passive seismic and electrical measurements are used to unravel the complex hydrogeology structure and associated groundwater flow paths at a coastal site in O’ahu, Hawai`i.
Posted inNews
Podcast: What’s It Like Pretending to Live on Mars?
We spoke with science writer Kate Greene about her experiences on a 4-month-long Mars analog mission.
Posted inScience Updates
Deep Submarine Fresh Water: A New Resource for Volcanic Islands?
The discovery of large freshwater reservoirs off Hawaii suggests that other volcanic islands may have similar resources, which could help meet water demands amid population growth and climate change.
Posted inNews
Insights from the Depths of Hawaii’s Kīlauea Volcano
One of the world’s best monitored and most active volcanos still has secrets to yield, and researchers are turning to vapor bubbles trapped in melt inclusions to find them.
Posted inScience Updates
A Tried-and-True Medium to Broaden the Reach of Science
Television programming reaches broad, diverse audiences, but scientists must help tell their own stories and speak to the communities in which they live.
Posted inFeatures
From Lava to Water: A New Era at Kīlauea
At Kīlauea Volcano, scientists are using unoccupied aircraft to monitor the new water lake, a possible harbinger of explosive activity, that formed after the volcano’s 2018 eruption.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Fault Dips Figured in Kīlauea’s Caldera Collapse
Large-volume volcanic eruptions can create instabilities in the ground above magma chambers, leading to massive collapses and telltale calderas.