November 17, 1995

A weekly feature provided by scientists at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

HVO is Closed

The U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory is closed due to the general shutdown of the U.S. government. We have a "skeleton" crew of four people keeping a watchful eye on our monitoring instruments. The simultaneous closure of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park has simplified our monitoring role since there are no visitors near the eruption site. We thank David Okita of Volcano Helitours for providing us with updates of the eruptive activity along Kilauea's East Rift Zone during this difficult time. Volcano Watch will return when the U.S. Geological Survey is once again operational with our full staff.

Subsequent Note: The Observatory (and the rest of the Federal Government) was back in action on November 20.