
Experts say Hawaii's Kilauea isn't done erupting. And it's not the only volcano rumbling.
Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists predict Hawaii's Kilauea volcano to erupt in the near future after an eruption May 25 sent lava spewing more that 1,000 feet into the sky.
Since December 2024, Kilauea has erupted about once a week, making it one of the world's most active volcanoes, the U.S. Geological Survey says.
Kilauea isn't the only volcano erupting. More than 50 volcanic eruptions have been reported around the world this year. The eruptions contribute significantly to earthquakes of all sizes, according to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.
About the Kilauea eruption in 2025
The Kilauea eruption that produced the 1,000-foot plume occurred in a closed area of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park about 200 miles and several islands southeast of Honolulu. Hawaiian Volcano Observatory status report says the lava poses no immediate threat to people who live in the area.
Unable to view our graphics? Click here to see them.
Other volcano eruptions and the Ring of Fire
The Ring of Fire is a horseshoe-shaped region in the Pacific about 25,000 miles long that contains more than 450 volcanoes, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The ring, NOAA says, extends "from the southern tip of South America, along the West Coast of North America, across the Bering Strait, down through Japan and into New Zealand." Its volcanoes extend farther south into Antarctica.
"Three out of every four live volcanoes on Earth are here,' National Geographic says. 'Almost all earthquakes happen here, too."
The Ring of Fire is the result of plate tectonics − moving slabs of rock millions of square miles across. They can collide with or pull away from one another. Heavier plates can slide beneath lighter ones, heating and melting the rock and creating magma. Volcanoes form as the magma rises through the Earth's crust.
How volcanos differ in shape and size
How many volcanic eruptions have occurred in 2025?
Fifty to 70 volcano eruptions are recorded around the world each year. According to the Global Volcanism Program, 54 volcanic eruptions have been confirmed this year as of May 2. A dozen of those eruptions have been in new locations.
Underwater volcano lurks off the Oregon coast
The massive undersea Axial seamount volcano reaches more than 3,600 feet above the seabed about 300 miles off Oregon. It last erupted in 2015.
'A year ago, Axial seemed to be taking a nap, but now it's waking up, and we think it's likely to erupt before the end of 2025,' Bill Chadwick, a volcanologist with Oregon State University and part of a team that's studying the volcano, told USA TODAY at the time.
A series of instruments placed around the volcano indicates a reservoir has been refilling with magma since its last eruption, gradually inflating so that it's bulging upward.
Overall, the undersea volcano continues to grow but it "sure doesn't seem like anything is imminent," he wrote.
CONTRIBUTING Elizabeth Weise and Jim Sergent/USA TODAY
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
27 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Earth's atmosphere hasn't had this much CO2 in millions of years
Earth's atmosphere now has more carbon dioxide in it than it has in millions — and possibly tens of millions — of years, according to data released Thursday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and scientists at the University of California San Diego. For the first time, global average concentrations of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas emitted as a byproduct of burning fossil fuels, exceeded 430 parts per million (ppm) in May. The new readings were a record high and represented an increase of more than 3 ppm over last year. The measurements indicate that countries are not doing enough to limit greenhouse gas emissions and reverse the steady buildup of C02, which climate scientists point to as the main culprit for global warming. 'Another year, another record,' Ralph Keeling, a professor of climate sciences, marine chemistry and geochemistry at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, said in a statement. 'It's sad.' Carbon dioxide, like other greenhouse gases, traps heat from the sun and can remain in the atmosphere for centuries. As such, high concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere contribute to higher global temperatures and other negative consequences of climate change, including rising sea levels, melting polar ice, and more frequent and severe extreme weather events. Atmospheric carbon dioxide has risen sharply since preindustrial times, owing mostly to human activities that pump greenhouse gases into the air. Decades ago, crossing the 400 ppm threshold was unthinkable. That meant that for every 1 million molecules of gas in the atmosphere, more than 400 were carbon dioxide. The planet hit that grim milestone in 2013. And now, scientists have warned that levels of CO2 could reach 500 ppm within 30 years. But human society is already in uncharted territory. The last time the planet had such high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was likely more than 30 million years ago, Keeling said, long before humans roamed Earth and during a time when the climate was vastly different. He said it's alarming not only how high CO2 levels have climbed, but also how quickly. 'It's changing so fast,' he told NBC News. 'If humans had evolved in such a high-CO2 world, there would probably be places where we wouldn't be living now. We probably could have adapted to such a world, but we built our society and a civilization around yesterday's climate.' Carbon dioxide levels are typically represented on a graph known as the Keeling Curve, named for Keeling's father, Charles David Keeling, who began taking daily measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide in 1958 with instruments atop the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii. The Keeling Curve famously shows a steep climb since the Industrial Revolution, owing to human-caused climate change. Ralph Keeling and his colleagues at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography found that average concentrations of atmospheric CO2 in May were 430.2 ppm. NOAA's Global Monitoring Laboratory, which has conducted separate daily readings since 1974, reported an average of 430.5 ppm in May. Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are closely monitored to gauge how much humans are influencing Earth's climate. The readings are also an indicator of the planet's overall health. 'They're telling you about your whole system health with a single-point measurement,' Keeling said. 'We're getting a holistic measurement of the atmosphere from really a kind of simple set of measurements.' This article was originally published on
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Doomed Starliner launched 1 year ago from Florida: Look back at mission's biggest moments
One year ago, two experienced NASA astronauts boarded an experimental Boeing spacecraft known as the Starliner for a short voyage to orbit and back. If you followed the Starliner saga as a few days stretched into months, you likely remember how this story ends. Boeing's vehicle, which it is developing for NASA to make trips to and from the International Space Station, attained a certain degree of notoriety. And the astronauts who crewed the spacecraft for its maiden human flight test are pretty much household names. For 286 days, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams made their home among the stars as unexpected extended crew members of the International Space Station. Meanwhile, back on Earth, their predicament involved intricate planning to get them home and ‒ when President Donald Trump and the world's richest man Elon Musk chimed in ‒ no small amount of finger-pointing. For their part, the astronauts, who have long since returned to Earth, have regularly spoken about relishing the extra time in the cosmos – including in an exclusive interview in January with USA TODAY. Wilmore and Williams have also downplayed their extended mission as just part of the job. On the one-year anniversary of the Starliner's doomed launch, here's a look back at the biggest moments of a now-infamous spaceflight mission that captured the world's attention. As the two astronauts selected for the Starliner's first crewed flight test, Butch Wilmore and Sunita 'Suni' Williams launched June 5, 2024, on a mission to test a vehicle intended to one day join the SpaceX Dragon in transporting NASA astronauts to orbit. The Starliner capsule rode to orbit atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center near Cape Canaveral, Florida. The highly anticipated liftoff came after several delays over the course of about a month due to troubles detected with the spacecraft, including issues with a valve in the rocket's upper stage. Wilmore and Williams reached the International Space Station the next day, June 6, 2024, where they were expected to remain for about 10 days before returning home. But when they made it to the orbital outpost, engineers discovered a slew of helium leaks and problems with the craft's propulsion system that for months hampered Starliner's return to Earth. Williams and Wimore's fate remained uncertain for months as NASA and Boeing deliberated on how best to get them home. That decision came Aug. 24, 2024, when NASA officials announced that the Starliner wasn't safe enough to crew, and would instead undock empty and return to Earth. The move, which dealt a blow to Boeing's hopes of getting the vehicle ocertified for regular space travel, would also free up a docking port at the station for the spacecraft now tasked with bringing Wilmore and Williams back. Under NASA's plan, the space agency selected a SpaceX Dragon bound the following month for the space station to transport Williams and Wilmore home. And to avoid having the station be understaffed, NASA opted to keep Williams and Wilmore at the station a few extra months rather than launch an emergency mission to return them to Earth. The empty Boeing Starliner then undocked Sept. 6 and made its way back to Earth for a parachute-assisted landing in the New Mexico desert. At the time, Boeing had plenty of work ahead to prepare the vehicle for routine spaceflight – including more ground tests and potential modifications to remedy its propulsion system woes. Starliner's future as a second operational vehicle for NASA to transport crews and cargo to the space station remains unclear, though the space agency appears to still be working with Boeing to make the vehicle operational. On Sept. 28, 2024, NASA launched the SpaceX Crew-9 mission as planned, but with one crucial change: Just two astronauts, Nick Hague of NASA and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, headed to the space station instead of four to leave two empty seats on their vehicle reserved for Wilmore and Williams. The pair arrived a day after getting off the ground on a spacecraft. But Wilmore and Williams didn't return with them right away. Instead, the Starliner astronauts were folded into the Crew-9 mission, and Williams even became commander of Expedition 72 – overseeing all of the spacefarers living and working at the space station. The plan then became Williams and Wilmore to return with Crew-9 in 2025 once Hague and Gorbunov completed their mission. If it weren't for the extended mission, Williams would not have been able to set a record Jan. 30 during her ninth-ever spacewalk. After she and Wilmore spent more than six hours venturing outside the space station, Williams has now spent a cumulative 62 hours and 6 minutes in the vacuum of space – more than any other woman in the world. Only three other people in the world have spent more cumulative time on spacewalks than Williams. After taking office in January, President Donald Trump weighed in several times on the Starliner mission, the delay of which he blamed on the Biden administration. He and billionaire ally Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, began characterizing the vehicle's crew as being "abandoned" or "stuck" in space – an assertion Wilmore and Williams have oft refuted. Trump also claimed that it was he who "authorized" Musk to retrieve the astronauts, despite the return plan being in place before he was elected. However, Trump did appear to have had an influence over NASA's decision to accelerate by about two weeks the launch of a mission that replaced Crew-9. That mission, unsurprisingly known as Crew-10, launched March 14 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Crew-10 included a full contingent of four spacefarers, including mission commander Anne McClain of NASA, NASA pilot Nichole Ayers and two mission specialists from other space agencies: Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov. After more than 28 hours traveling through orbit, Crew-10 reached the space station late March 15 – a critical step in setting the stage for Wilmore and Williams to embark on their long-awaited return trip. Before the outgoing astronauts departed the station, they spent a few days helping the new arrivals familiarize themselves with the orbital laboratory and station operations during a handover period. Wilmore and Williams then boarded the Dragon with Hague and Gorbunov and undocked March 18 from the ISS's Harmony module, a port and passageway onto the station. About 17 hours later, the SpaceX Dragon vehicle – charred from its journey through Earth's atmosphere – deployed parachutes for a dramatic water landing March 19 off the coast of Florida. SpaceX teams then raced to retrieve the floating spacecraft and its crew of four, helping secure the Dragon and hoist it onto a recovery vessel. Once the Dragon was firmly in place on the ship's main deck, teams cut into the vehicle's side hatch to help Williams, Wilmore, Hague and Gorbunov exit. As commentators explained during NASA's livestream, the astronauts were placed onto stretchers – standard protocol after long-duration spaceflights – and taken to receive medical examinations. Once cleared, the four astronauts were taken on a short helicopter ride to board an airplane for a flight to NASA's headquarters in Houston, where they began their recovery. Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@ This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Boeing launched its Starliner 1 year ago from Florida: Here's a recap


USA Today
5 hours ago
- USA Today
Carbon dioxide levels usually peak in May, but 2025's reading was like no other
Carbon dioxide levels usually peak in May, but 2025's reading was like no other Show Caption Hide Caption How President Trump impacted climate change policy so far Since taking office, President Trump has abandoned efforts to reduce global warming. It could 'take a generation or more to repair the damage." An observatory high on Hawaii's Mauna Loa volcano that measures carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reported its highest ever seasonal peak concentration of the greenhouse gas. For the first time, the May average exceeded 430 parts per million, reported scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Mauna Loa Observatory and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego. "Another year, another record," said Ralph Keeling, director of the Scripps CO2 Program. "It's sad." Carbon dioxide and other gases function like a blanket around the Earth, holding in heat and warming the atmosphere above the surface, scientists say. A broad consensus of international scientists say the rise in carbon dioxide concentrations is responsible for the globe's changing climate, helping to make natural weather events such as rainfall, drought and heat waves more extreme. While carbon dioxide is naturally present in Earth's atmosphere, scientists say the problem is the rate at which it's increasing, driven by fossil fuel emissions. Geoscientists at the University of Utah, who participated in a 2023 study with more than 90 scientists in 16 countries, previously stated that CO2 levels in the atmosphere are higher than they've been in human history and highest in at least 14 million years. Climate change policy: Shifting rapidly under Trump administration Last year, the average level of carbon dioxide rose faster over the previous year than at any other point since the recordings began, Scripps reported in January. The average readings for the 12 months was 3.58 parts per million higher than the previous year's average, breaking a record set in 2016. In both years, the climate pattern El Niño played a role, Keeling said in January. "Although this El Niño event ended early in 2024, it is often the case that El Niño events are associated with higher than normal CO2 growth extending into the northern hemisphere summer following the El Niño event." The historic 67-year-old laboratory at elevation 11,141 feet is the global benchmark location for monitoring carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Its measurements represent the average state of the atmosphere in the northern hemisphere. Scripps scientist Charles David Keeling, Ralph Keeling's father, began monitoring CO2 concentrations there in 1958. He was the first to realize CO2 levels peak in May in the northern hemisphere, fall during the growing season and rise again after plants die in the fall, according to Scripps. The fluctuations were presented in a record that became known as the Keeling Curve, which demonstrated carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere were increasing every year. NOAA initiated daily measurements at Mauna Loa in 1974 and has maintained a complementary, independent measurement record ever since. A global network that includes NOAA and Scripps, forms a dataset used by climate scientists internationally. Eruptions at Mauna Loa caused an interruption to power at the observatory in 2022, NOAA said. Scientists established a temporary measurement site at Mauna Kea nearby. Dinah Voyles Pulver, a national correspondent for USA TODAY, covers climate change, wildlife and the environment. Reach her at dpulver@ or @dinahvp on Bluesky or X or dinahvp.77 on Signal.