National Volcano Early Warning and Monitoring System facts for kids
The National Volcano Early Warning and Monitoring System is a special program in the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). It helps keep an eye on volcanoes in the U.S.. Its main job is to give early warnings if a volcano might erupt. This helps keep people safe in areas near volcanoes. This system became official on March 12, 2019.
Why We Need Volcano Monitoring
The United States has 169 young volcanoes. Many of these are close to cities and towns. This means they could be dangerous if they erupt. The USGS thinks many risky volcanoes are not watched closely enough. They don't have enough scientific tools on the ground. These tools help measure how active a volcano is.
Some volcanoes have no tools at all. Others have tools like seismometers, but not enough to understand what's happening. For example, Glacier Peak in Washington has only one seismometer. Better monitoring can give faster warnings. This helps people evacuate and allows emergency teams to get ready. It also helps prevent problems with travel.
Early warnings are very important for airplanes. Air traffic controllers need to know about ash clouds. Volcanic ash can be very dangerous for planes. Knowing about ash helps them change flight paths. This keeps passengers and crew safe.
The USGS checks each volcano using a special system. They look at 24 different things. This helps them decide how risky a volcano is. They give each volcano a threat level. These levels are "very low," "low," "moderate," "high," or "very high."
In 2018, 18 volcanoes were called "very high" risk. Another 39 volcanoes were "high" risk. The "very high" risk volcanoes are in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, and Hawaii. The most dangerous one is Kilauea in Hawaii.
The Volcano Hazards Program already watches some volcanoes. But this program does not have enough money. So, it cannot properly monitor all dangerous volcanoes. Charles Mandeville, who leads the program, says they are only about 30-40% of the way there. They need an ideal network to watch these volcanoes. As of 2018, only three "very high risk" volcanoes were "well monitored." These are Kilauea, Mount St. Helens, and Long Valley Caldera.
What the System Does
The National Volcano Early Warning and Monitoring System has two main goals:
- To make volcano monitoring systems better. This means making them modern and work together. It includes observatories like the Alaska Volcano Observatory, California Volcano Observatory, Cascades Volcano Observatory, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, and Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.
- To connect all these monitoring systems. This will create one big system that shares information easily.
How the System Works
The USGS has to create a five-year plan. This plan will show how they will monitor all U.S. volcanoes. They will watch them based on how dangerous they are. The plan includes making current monitoring networks better. It also means putting new tools on volcanoes that are not watched yet. All observatories will use the same modern tools.
A national volcano data center will help all the observatories work together. There will also be a watch office open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This office will always be ready to respond. The USGS will also offer grants. These grants will support research. This research will help find new ways to monitor volcanoes. It will also help analyze their activity.
The system was given permission to spend $55,000,000. This money was for the years 2019 through 2023. However, the money still needs to be officially given out. For the year 2021, the Volcano Hazards Program received $30 million. This money helps fund the warning and monitoring system.
