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Robert I. Tilling

Publications and source records attributed to Robert I. Tilling.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2017

Volcano crisis communication: Challenges and solutions in the 21st century

This volume, Observing the volcano world: volcanic crisis communication, focuses at the point where the ‘rubber hits the road’, where the world of volcano-related sciences and all its uncertainties meet with the complex and ever-changing dynamics of our society, wherever and whenever this may be. Core to the issues addressed in this book is the idea of how volcanic crisis communication operates in practice and in theory. This chapter provides an overview of the evolution of thinking around the importance of volcanic crisis communication over the last century, bringing together studies on relevant case studies. Frequently, the mechanisms by which volcanic crisis communication occurs are via a number of key tools employed including: risk assessment, probabilistic analysis, early-warning systems, all of which assist in the decision-making procedures; that are compounded by ever-changing societal demands and needs. This chapter outlines some of the key challenges faced in managing responses to volcanic eruptions since the start of the 20th century, to explore what has been effective, what lessons have been learnt from key events, and what solutions we can discover. Adopting a holistic approach, this chapter aims to provide a contextual background for the following chapters in the volume that explore many of the elements discussed here in further detail. Finally, we consider the future, as many chapters in this book bring together a wealth of new knowledge that will enable further insights for investigation, experimentation, and development of future volcanic crisis communication.

Book chapter↗
USGS2015

Risk management of El Chichón and Tacaná Volcanoes: Lessons learned from past volcanic crises: Chapter 8

Before 1985, Mexico lacked civil-protection agencies with a mission to prevent and respond to natural and human-caused disasters; thus, the government was unprepared for the sudden eruption of El Chichón Volcano in March–April 1982, which produced the deadliest volcanic disaster in the country’s recorded history (~2,000 fatalities). With the sobering lessons of El Chichón still fresh, scientists and governmental officials had a higher awareness of possible disastrous outcome when Tacaná Volcano began to exhibit unrest in late 1985. Seismic and geochemical studies were quickly initiated to monitor activity. At the same time, scientists worked actively with officials of the Federal and local agencies to develop the “Plan Operativo” (Operational Plan)—expressly designed to effectively communicate hazards information and reduce confusion and panic among the affected population. Even though the volcano-monitoring data obtained during the Tacaná crisis were limited, when used in conjunction with protocols of the Operational Plan, they proved useful in mitigating risk and easing public anxiety. While comprehensive monitoring is not yet available, both El Chichón and Tacaná volcanoes are currently monitored—seismically and geochemically—within the scientific and economic resources available. Numerous post-eruption studies have generated new insights into the volcanic systems that have been factored into subsequent volcano monitoring and hazards assessments. The State of Chiapas is now much better positioned to deal with any future unrest or eruptive activity at El Chichón or Tacaná, both of which at the moment are quiescent as of 2014. Perhaps more importantly, the protocols first tested in 1986 at Tacaná have served as the basis for the development of risk-management practices for hazards from other active and potentially active volcanoes in Mexico. These practices have been most notably employed since 1994 at Volcán Popocatépetl since a major eruption under unfavorable prevailing winds may constitute a substantial threat to densely populated metropolitan Mexico City. While the 1982 El Chichón disaster was a national tragedy, it greatly accelerated volcanic emergency preparedness and multidisciplinary scientific studies of eruptive processes and products, not only at El Chichón but also at other explosive volcanoes in Mexico and elsewhere in the world.

Chiapas↗
USGS2014

The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory: A natural laboratory for studying basaltic volcanism

In the beginning of the 20th century, geologist Thomas A. Jaggar, Jr., argued that, to fully understand volcanic and associated hazards, the expeditionary mode of studying eruptions only after they occurred was inadequate. Instead, he fervently advocated the use of permanent observatories to record and measure volcanic phenomena—at and below the surface—before, during, and after eruptions to obtain the basic scientific information needed to protect people and property from volcanic hazards. With the crucial early help of American volcanologist Frank Alvord Perret and the Hawaiian business community, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) was established in 1912, and Jaggar’s vision became reality. From its inception, HVO’s mission has centered on several goals: (1) measuring and documenting the seismic, eruptive, and geodetic processes of active Hawaiian volcanoes (principally Kīlauea and Mauna Loa); (2) geological mapping and dating of deposits to reconstruct volcanic histories, understand island evolution, and determine eruptive frequencies and volcanic hazards; (3) systematically collecting eruptive products, including gases, for laboratory analysis; and (4) widely disseminating observatory-acquired data and analysis, reports, and hazard warnings to the global scientific community, emergency-management authorities, news media, and the public. The long-term focus on these goals by HVO scientists, in collaboration with investigators from many other organizations, continues to fulfill Jaggar’s career-long vision of reducing risks from volcanic and earthquake hazards across the globe. This chapter summarizes HVO’s history and some of the scientific achievements made possible by this permanent observatory over the past century as it grew from a small wooden structure with only a small staff and few instruments to a modern, well-staffed, world-class facility with state-of-the-art monitoring networks that constantly track volcanic and earthquake activity. The many successes of HVO, from improving basic knowledge about basaltic volcanism to providing hands-on experience and training for hundreds of scientists and students and serving as the testing ground for new instruments and technologies, stem directly from the acquisition, integration, and analysis of multiple datasets that span many decades of observations of frequent eruptive activity. HVO’s history of the compilation, interpretation, and communication of long-term volcano monitoring and eruption data (for instance, seismic, geodetic, and petrologic-geochemical data and detailed eruption chronologies) is perhaps unparalleled in the world community of volcano observatories. The discussion and conclusions drawn in this chapter, which emphasize developments since the 75th anniversary of HVO in 1987, are general and retrospective and are intended to provide context for the more detailed, topically focused chapters of this volume.

Hawaii↗
USGS2014

Natural hazards and risk reduction in Hawaii

Significant progress has been made over the past century in understanding, characterizing, and communicating the societal risks posed by volcanic, earthquake, and tsunami hazards in Hawai‘i. The work of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO), with a century-long commitment to serving the public with credible hazards information, contributed substantially to this global progress. Thomas A. Jaggar, Jr., HVO’s founder, advocated that a scientific approach to understanding these hazards would result in strategies to mitigate their damaging effects. The resultant hazard-reduction methods range from prediction of eruptions and tsunamis, thereby providing early warnings for timely evacuation (if needed), to diversion of lava flows away from high-value infrastructure, such as hospitals. In addition to long-term volcano monitoring and multifaceted studies to better understand eruptive and seismic phenomena, HVO has continually and effectively communicated—through its publications, Web site, and public education/outreach programs—hazards information to emergency-management authorities, news media, and the public. Although HVO has been an important global player in advancing natural hazards studies during the past 100 years, it faces major challenges in the future, among which the following command special attention: (1) the preparation of an updated volcano hazards assessment and map for the Island of Hawai‘i, taking into account not only high-probability lava flow hazards, but also hazards posed by low-probability, high-risk events (for instance, pyroclastic flows, regional ashfalls, volcano flank collapse and associated megatsunamis), and (2) the continuation of timely and effective communications of hazards information to all stakeholders and the general public, using all available means (conventional print media, enhanced Web presence, public-education/outreach programs, and social-media approaches).

Hawaii↗
USGS2013

Hazards and climatic impact of subduction‐zone volcanism: A global and historical perspective

Subduction-zone volcanoes account for more than 80 percent of the documented eruptions in recorded history, even though volcanism--deep and, hence, unobserved--along the global oceanic ridge systems overwhelmingly dominates in eruptive output. Because subduction-zone eruptions can be highly explosive, they pose some of the greatest natural hazards to society if the eruptions occur in densely populated regions. Of the six worst volcanic disasters since A.D. 1600, five have occurred at subduction-zone volcanoes: Unzen, Japan (1792); Tambora, Indonesia (1815); Krakatau, Indonesia (1883); Mont Pe16e, Martinique (1902); and Nevado del Ruiz, Colombia (1985). Sulfuric acid droplets in stratospheric volcanic clouds produced by voluminous explosive eruptions can influence global climate. The 1815 Tambora eruption caused in 1816 a decrease of several Celsius degrees in average summer temperature in Europe and the eastern United States and Canada, resulting in the well-known "Year Without Summer." Similarly, the eruptions of E1 Chichon (Mexico) in 1982 and of Mount Pinatubo (Philippines) in 1991 lowered average temperatures for the northern hemisphere by as much as 0.2 to 0.5 øC, respectively. However, eruption-induced climatic effects of historical eruptions appear to be short-lived, lasting at most for only a few years.

Book chapter↗
USGS2013

Volcano crisis response at Yellowstone volcanic complex - after-action report for exercise held at Salt Lake City, Utah, November 15, 2011

A functional tabletop exercise was run on November 14-15, 2011 in Salt Lake City, Utah, to test crisis response capabilities, communication protocols, and decision-making by the staff of the multi-agency Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO) as they reacted to a hypothetical exercise scenario of accelerating volcanic unrest at the Yellowstone caldera. The exercise simulated a rapid build-up of seismic activity, ground deformation, and hot-spring water-chemistry and temperature anomalies that culminated in a small- to moderate-size phreatomagmatic eruption within Yellowstone National Park. The YVO scientific team's responses to the unfolding events in the scenario and to simulated requests for information by stakeholders and the media were assessed by (a) the exercise organizers; (b) several non-YVO scientists, who observed and queried participants, and took notes throughout the exercise; and (c) the participants themselves, who kept logs of their actions during the exercise and later participated in a group debriefing session and filled out detailed questionnaires. These evaluations were tabulated, interpreted, and summarized for this report, and on the basis of this information, recommendations have been made. Overall, the YVO teams performed their jobs very well. The exercise revealed that YVO scientists were able to successfully provide critical hazards information, issue information statements, and appropriately raise alert levels during a fast-moving crisis. Based on the exercise, it is recommended that several measures be taken to increase YVO effectiveness during a crisis: 1. Improve role clarification within and between YVO science teams. 2. Improve communications tools and protocols for data-sharing and consensus-building among YVO scientists, who are geographically and administratively dispersed among various institutions across the United States. 3. Familiarize YVO staff with Incident Command System (ICS) procedures and protocols, and provide more in-depth training to appropriate staff members, as needed. 4. Train all science team members in the use of all analytical and computational tools available to them, in order to maximize effectiveness of teams in tracking and interpreting possible accelerating unrest at Yellowstone. Desirable pre-crisis preparations include: (a) updating a catalog of existing map and information products (and identifying additional products) that would be helpful during a crisis; (b) creating "to do" lists of early-crisis tasks for each scientific team; (c) coordinating radio frequencies among partner agencies; and (d) brief training on and promotion of the internal YVO Web log as a repository for scientific observations, data, photographs, and other material to be shared among YVO scientific teams during a crisis. This exercise was designed as an opportunity to practice response to a fast-developing volcano crisis and to test for organizational and procedural weaknesses that could emerge during a real crisis. This report is based upon the observations of the exercise organizers during the one-day exercise and upon written evaluations by the participants. It does not attempt to evaluate any other aspect of YVO or the scientific expertise of any of the highly competent YVO staff. Participants unanimously found the exercise to be helpful for improving their response capabilities, and it is our hope that the report will be a starting point for internal discussions that will make YVO even better-prepared for some future volcano crisis.

Utah↗
USGS2013

Preface

No abstract available.

Book chapter↗
USGS2012

A deep research drill hole at the summit of an active volcano, Kilauea, Hawaii

Drilling and geophysical logging data for a 1,262 m‐deep bore hole in the area inferred to overlie the magma reservoir of Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii, support earlier interpretations based on surface geophysical surveys that a zone of brackish or saline water lies above the reservoir. Temperatures encountered within the hole are not sufficiently high to warrant commercial interest; the maximum temperature, 137°C, is at the hole bottom. However, the temperature gradient toward the bottom of the hole (approximately 160 m below sea level) increases sharply to about 370°C/km, perhaps partly reflecting the effect of decreased water circulation as suggested by the geophysical logging data. If this gradient persists or increases with depth, magmatic temperatures would be attained within 3 km from the hole bottom (i.e., approximately 4 km from ground surface)—a depth in accord with data from ground‐deformation and seismic studies.

Hawaii↗
USGS2012

Field measurements of apparent Curie temperatures in a cooling basaltic lava lake, Kilauea Iki, Hawaii

Magnetic susceptibility and temperature measurements have been made in two of three holes drilled in 1975 through the crust and into the still molten lens of tholeiitic basalt in Kilauea Iki lava lake (formed in 1959). The temperature above which magnetic susceptibility drops to zero—the apparent Curie temperature—is 540°C. at depths of 34.7‐35.9 m below the lake surface. These field measurements suggest that the dominant ferromagnetic mineral in the cooling basalt is titanomagnetite containing about 10 mol percent ulvöspinel.

Hawaii↗
USGS2011

The story of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory -- A remarkable first 100 years of tracking eruptions and earthquakes

The year 2012 marks the centennial of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO). With the support and cooperation of visionaries, financiers, scientists, and other individuals and organizations, HVO has successfully achieved 100 years of continuous monitoring of Hawaiian volcanoes. As we celebrate this milestone anniversary, we express our sincere mahalo—thanks—to the people who have contributed to and participated in HVO’s mission during this past century. First and foremost, we owe a debt of gratitude to the late Thomas A. Jaggar, Jr., the geologist whose vision and efforts led to the founding of HVO. We also acknowledge the pioneering contributions of the late Frank A. Perret, who began the continuous monitoring of Kīlauea in 1911, setting the stage for Jaggar, who took over the work in 1912. Initial support for HVO was provided by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Carnegie Geophysical Laboratory, which financed the initial cache of volcano monitoring instruments and Perret’s work in 1911. The Hawaiian Volcano Research Association, a group of Honolulu businessmen organized by Lorrin A. Thurston, also provided essential funding for HVO’s daily operations starting in mid-1912 and continuing for several decades. Since HVO’s beginning, the University of Hawaiʻi (UH), called the College of Hawaii until 1920, has been an advocate of HVO’s scientific studies. We have benefited from collaborations with UH scientists at both the Hilo and Mänoa campuses and look forward to future cooperative efforts to better understand how Hawaiian volcanoes work. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has operated HVO continuously since 1947. Before then, HVO was under the administration of various Federal agencies—the U.S. Weather Bureau, at the time part of the Department of Agriculture, from 1919 to 1924; the USGS, which first managed HVO from 1924 to 1935; and the National Park Service from 1935 to 1947. For 76 of its first 100 years, HVO has been part of the USGS, the Nation’s premier Earth science agency. It currently operates under the direction of the USGS Volcano Science Center, which now supports five volcano observatories covering six U.S. areas—Hawaiʻi (HVO), Alaska and the Northern Mariana Islands (Alaska Volcano Observatory), Washington and Oregon (Cascades Volcano Observatory), California (California Volcano Observatory), and the Yellowstone region (Yellowstone Volcano Observatory). Although the National Park Service (NPS) managed HVO for only 12 years, HVO has enjoyed a close working relationship with Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park (named Hawaii National Park until 1961) since the park’s founding in 1916. Today, as in past years, the USGS and NPS work together to ensure the safety and education of park visitors. We are grateful to all park employees, particularly Superintendent Cindy Orlando and Chief Ranger Talmadge Magno and their predecessors, for their continuing support of HVO’s mission. HVO also works closely with the Hawaiʻi County Civil Defense. During volcanic and earthquake crises, we have appreciated the support of civil defense staff, especially that of Harry Kim and Quince Mento, who administered the agency during highly stressful episodes of Kīlauea's ongoing eruption. Our work in remote areas on Hawaiʻi’s active volcanoes is possible only with the able assistance of Hawaiʻi County and private pilots who have safely flown HVO staff to eruption sites through the decades. A special mahalo goes to David Okita, who has been HVO’s principal helicopter pilot for more than two decades. Many commercial and Civil Air Patrol pilots have also assisted HVO by reporting their observations during various eruptive events. Hawaiʻi’s news media—print, television, radio, and online sources—do an excellent job of distributing volcano and earthquake information to the public. Their assistance is invaluable to HVO, especially during times of crisis. HVO’s efforts to provide timely and accurate scientific information about Hawaiian volcanoes and earthquakes succeed only because of you, our receptive and keenly aware public. By following the activity of Hawaiʻi’s active volcanoes through our daily eruption updates posted on the HVO website, viewing HVO webcam images, reading our weekly “Volcano Watch” articles, and attending our public lectures, you help us to ensure that you can live safely with Hawaiʻi’s dynamic volcanoes. To everyone who has shared in HVO’s reaching this milestone—100 years of continuous volcano monitoring—we extend our deepest gratitude. Mahalo nui loa!

Hawai'i↗
USGS2010

Eruptions of Hawaiian volcanoes—Past, present, and future

Viewing an erupting volcano is a memorable experience, one that has inspired fear, superstition, worship, curiosity, and fascination since before the dawn of civilization. In modern times, volcanic phenomena have attracted intense scientific interest because they provide the key to understanding processes that have created and shaped more than 80 percent of the Earth’s surface. The active Hawaiian volcanoes have received special attention worldwide because of their frequent spectacular eruptions, which often can be viewed and studied with relative ease and safety. In January 1987, the U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO), then located on the caldera rim of Kīlauea, celebrated its 75th anniversary. To honor this anniversary, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) published Professional Paper 1350 , a comprehensive summary of the many studies on Hawaiian volcanism by USGS and other scientists through the mid-1980s. Drawing from the wealth of data contained in that volume, the USGS also published in 1987 the original edition of this general-interest booklet, focusing on selected aspects of the eruptive history, style, and products of two of the State of Hawaii’s active volcanoes—Kīlauea and Mauna Loa. A second edition of the booklet was published in 2010 to commemorate the Centennial of HVO (which occurred in January 2012), summarizing abundant new information gained since the January 1983 onset of Kīlauea’s middle East Rift Zone eruption at Pu‘u‘ō‘ō and the March 2008 beginning of Kīlauea’s summit lava-lake activity within Halema‘uma‘u. In this third edition, we include highlights from Kīlauea’s subsequent activity, including the 2018 eruption in the lower East Rift Zone—the largest and most destructive in at least 200 years—and associated summit-collapse events, the eruptions at Kīlauea’s summit since 2018, and the 2022 eruption of Mauna Loa, which occurred after 38 years of quiescence. It also considers new data leading to an improved history of Kīlauea’s explosive activity in the recent geologic past. This general-interest booklet is a companion to the one on Mount St. Helens volcano (southwestern Washington) first published in 1984, revised in 1990. Together, these publications illustrate the contrast between the two main types of volcanoes: shield volcanoes, such as those in the State of Hawaii, which generally are nonexplosive to weakly explosive; and composite volcanoes, such as Mount St. Helens in the Cascade Range, which generally erupt explosively.

Hawaii↗
USGS2009

Geochemical database for the Boulder batholith and its satellitic plutons, Southwest Montana

Geochemical data presented in this report pertain to Cretaceous igneous intrusions of the Boulder batholith and its satellitic plutons in southwest Montana. The geographic area addressed in this compilation is approximately bounded by lats 45.6 deg and 46.7 deg N. and longs 112.75 deg and 111.5 deg W. These data were compiled in order to establish the geologic framework for world-class mineral deposits of the Butte district. Although these deposits and their host rocks have been the subject of many investigations, the petrologic characteristics of associated intrusive rocks have not been systematically compiled, synthesized, or interpreted. Abundant late Mesozoic intrusions in the study area are probably byproducts of subduction-related processes, including back-arc magmatism that prevailed along the west edge of the North American plate during this interval. The ultimate goal of this effort will be an evaluation of the time-space-compositional evolution of Mesozoic magmatism associated with the Boulder batholith and identification of genetic associations between magmatic and mineralizing processes in this region.

Data Series↗
USGS2008

Scientific and public responses to the ongoing volcanic crisis at Popocatépetl Volcano, Mexico: Importance of an effective hazards-warning system

Volcanic eruptions and other potentially hazardous natural phenomena occur independently of any human actions. However, such phenomena can cause disasters when a society fails to foresee the hazardous manifestations and adopt adequate measures to reduce its vulnerability. One of the causes of such a failure is the lack of a consistent perception of the changing hazards posed by an ongoing eruption, i.e., with members of the scientific community, the Civil Protection authorities and the general public having diverging notions about what is occurring and what may happen. The problem of attaining a perception of risk as uniform as possible in a population measured in millions during an evolving eruption requires searching for communication tools that can describe—as simply as possible—the relations between the level of threat posed by the volcano, and the level of response of the authorities and the public. The hazards-warning system adopted at Popocatépetl Volcano, called the Volcanic Traffic Light Alert System (VTLAS), is a basic communications protocol that translates volcano threat into seven levels of preparedness for the emergency-management authorities, but only three levels of alert for the public (color coded green–yellow–red). The changing status of the volcano threat is represented as the most likely scenarios according to the opinions of an official scientific committee analyzing all available data. The implementation of the VTLAS was intended to reduce the possibility of ambiguous interpretations of intermediate levels by the endangered population. Although the VTLAS is imperfect and has not solved all problems involved in mass communication and decision-making during a volcanic crisis, it marks a significant advance in the management of volcanic crises in Mexico.

Popocatepetl Volcano↗
USGS2007

Danger lurks deep: The human impact of volcanoes

Near midnight of March 28, 1982, El Chichón — an obscure, little-studied volcano in Chiapas State, southern Mexico — violently erupted, terrifying local villagers and prompting a confused, poorly executed evacuation. For the next five days, the volcano remained intermittently but only weakly active, so many evacuees were allowed to return to their homes. Then, on April 3 and 4, two powerful and lethal eruptions occurred. Ground-hugging, high-speed torrents of hot gas and burning rock fragments swept down all sides of the volcano, obliterating everything in their paths. The eruptions killed about 2,000 people, mostly because of pyroclastic flows and surges that devastated nine villages around the volcano. Associated falling ash caused roofs to collapse, destroyed infrastructure and crops, and decreased visibility, necessitating road and airport closures. In addition to the fatalities, the eruptions caused severe socioeconomic hardships and disrupted the daily lives of many more thousands of people in the surrounding regions. Moreover, an unusually large amount of sulfur dioxide gas was injected into the atmosphere, which circled the planet over the next 20 days, affecting air traffic worldwide and slightly cooling the planet for more than two months after the eruption.

Geotimes↗
USGS2006

Preface

No abstract available.

Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research↗