Hearing asks why USGS no longer has real-time seismic monitoring of Pagan volcano

Nov 21, 2014

The recent lava flow on the island of Hawai’i, threatening the village of Pahoa, drew congressional attention at a hearing of the Natural Resources Committee this week. Scientists from the Volcano Hazards Program of the U.S. Geological Survey here for the hearing also briefed your congressional office on volcano monitoring on Pagan, Anatahan, Sarigan, and Saipan. All four islands have ground based digital instrumentation and telemetry principally paid for by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or ARRA. But the Pagan equipment is currently not streaming real-time data because a lack of funding prevents uplinking to satellite. Pagan is still being actively monitored by daily analysis of satellite images of the island. In the meantime, USGS and the Army Corps of Engineers are pursuing other funding sources to re-start the satellite uplink. And your congressional office will also be requesting the needed funding for the Volcano Hazards Program through the member submission procedure in the fiscal year 2016 appropriation process.