U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)

A river of lava glowing in the dark, captured from space 🌋   Landsat satellites, a joint mission between @nasa and @usgslandsat don’t always take the night off. By special request, they can collect nighttime imagery that helps scientists monitor erupting volcanoes, wildfires, glaciers at twilight, and more.   This nighttime image from Landsat 9 captured Mauna Loa’s 11.3-mile-long lava flow on December 4, 2022, illuminating a plume of ash in the atmosphere above Hawaii. Swipe to see how it looked from the ground the next day.   Want to know what a certain volcano, wildfire, or icy landscape looks like after dark from space? Learn more about what Landsat can see at night and how to submit a special imagery request by clicking the link in today’s USGS story.

Don’t forget the flowers this Mother’s Day 💐 This American pika may look like it’s carrying a bouquet, but it’s actually gathering plants for its winter food stash in the mountains. Pikas spend the warmer months collecting grasses, wildflowers, and other vegetation to store for the colder season ahead. Like moms everywhere, always gathering, planning ahead, and making sure everyone has what they need. Happy Mother’s Day from the USGS! 📸: American pika eating plants. Credit: USGS

Amphibian Week is here! 🐸 Frogs, toads, salamanders, and caecilians have been around for hundreds of millions of years, quietly going about their lives in wetlands, forests, and streams across the globe. Amphibians are considered good indicators of general ecosystem health because of their close association with various aquatic habitats and sensitivity to different environmental stresses. Amphibian populations are in serious decline, however, and amphibians are at greater risk than fishes, reptiles, birds, and mammals. To address these issues, the USGS Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI) conducts research to support the needs of management agencies in the U.S. Want to learn more and see more this week? Head over to @USGS_Wild for all the Amphibian Week content, including species spotlights, research highlights, and a few faces only a scientist could love. 📸1: Rough-skinned Newt 📸2: Plains Spadefoot 📸3: Mole Salamander Credit: USGS #AmphibianWeek

May the 4th Be with You! It's not just science fiction, Planetary Defense at USGS is an active body of research, and protecting life and property is a core part of our mission at the Department of the Interior. USGS Astrogeology has been researching hazards from space since the 1960s, and although we're not battling Star Destroyers, we'll do our best to inform you of rocky space invaders! 🎥: USGS Physical Scientist Dr. Lori Pigue explains past asteroid impacts and how the USGS is working to better understand potential hazards. #PlanetaryDefense #StarWarsDay #PlanetaryDefenders

Did you hear that??? Well, Roaring Mountain isn’t quite as loud as it used to be, but it’s still one of the hottest thermal areas in all of Yellowstone National Park! **Yellowstone Volcano Observatory monthly video update – May 1, 2026** Roaring Mountain is located along the highway between Mammoth Hot Springs and Norris Geyser Basin. In the late 1800s, the sounds of gas escaping could be heard for miles, but that diminished by the beginning of the 1900s. Then, in 1902, there was a thermal event that brought the sound back once again! Heat emissions increased, and trees died off over a broad part of the thermal region. Now, Roaring Mountain sort of hisses away, but that sound can be clearly heard when traffic and winds are light. In addition to being the site of present-day thermal activity, the area near Roaring Mountain hosts a few hydrothermal explosion craters, including Semi-Centennial—a feature that erupted explosively, sending hot water and debris up to 300 feet (91 meters) high multiple times on August 14, 1922, but that has been quiet ever since On the high plateau just east of Roaring Mountain are a few more craters, the largest of which is about 850 feet (260 meters) across and spread ashy debris to a distance of up to 0.5 mile (800 meters). During April 2026, the University of Utah Seismograph Stations, which monitors and operates the Yellowstone seismic network, located 97 earthquakes. The largest was a Magnitude 2.5. Deformation measurements indicate a pause in uplift along the north caldera rim and no net deformation of the caldera. Steamboat Geyser did not erupt in April, but nearby Echinus Geyser, which began erupting again in February after several years of quiet, erupted 4 times. Acoustic, seismic, camera, and temperature measurements detected eruptions at Black Diamond Pool in Biscuit Basin on April 28 and 29, the latter of which is the largest recorded since instrumental monitoring began in the basin in summer 2025.

It’s like writing a message in the sand but way, way bigger. These satellite images show features on our planet that resemble letters of the English alphabet. The images were captured by the @nasa @usgs Landsat satellites, which have been collecting valuable scientific data about Earth for over 50 years. What will you spell with Earth at your fingertips? Tell us in the comments. Image description: Image that spells out “hello world” using satellite images of Earth. Each image shows a mountain range, lake, island, river, or other feature that resembles a letter of the English alphabet. Credit: NASA #NASA #Earth #Science #Landsat

Volume up! The sights and sounds of Black Diamond Pool in Yellowstone National Park are pretty impressive. This pool, located in Biscuit Basin, was the site of a hydrothermal explosion on July 23, 2024, that destroyed a boardwalk and sent visitors running for safety (fortunately, there were no injuries). Ever since that explosion, sporadic eruptions have hurled muddy water up to tens of feet (several meters) into the air. 🎥: This most recent eruption occurred on Tuesday, April 28, at 10:49 AM. There have been three additional such eruptions so far this year, but this is the first that occurred during daylight and when the camera was not covered in ice. 📸: Remote camera that maintains a view of Black Diamond Pool in Biscuit Basin. Since that time, the camera and other nearby monitoring instruments have detected numerous smaller muddy eruptions from the pool.

New Nationwide Tool Helps Answer: Do We Have Enough Water? We released the first nationwide tool to help water planners determine if communities have enough water for current and future needs. Nearly 27 million Americans, or 8% of the U.S. population, live in areas where water demand consistently approaches or exceeds naturally available water supply. Until now, accessing comprehensive water availability information required navigating fragmented datasets across multiple agencies. The new tool eliminates many of those barriers. The USGS National Water Availability Assessment Data Companion provides water managers, agricultural communities, and researchers with detailed information about water supply and demand across approximately 80,000 watersheds nationwide. Users can explore conditions for any watershed, compare regions, identify seasonal patterns and download complete datasets in multiple formats for custom analysis. Technical users can access data through web services and integrate this information into modeling workflows. Access the Data Companion at the link in our story. 📷: Farmer walking through crop field under center pivot irrigation system. Water use data, including crop irrigation, are available on the Data Companion! #WaterData #WaterAvailability #DataCompanion

From 1,400 books to one of the world’s largest Earth science collections 📚🌎 When the USGS was established in 1879, the library started with just 1,400 books—supporting early efforts to explore and understand the nation’s landscapes. Today, it has grown into one of the most comprehensive Earth science collections in the world: 📖 1.5 million volumes 🗺️ 750,000 maps 📷 500,000 historical photos 📝 30,000 field records Whether you’re tracing the history of a volcanic eruption, studying water resources, or exploring decades of fieldwork, the USGS library has resources that can help. During National Library Week, we recognize the USGS Library and libraries everywhere for preserving knowledge, supporting discovery, and connecting generations of science. Explore the collections at the link in today's story. 📷1: USGS library reading room in the Interior Building, Washington, D.C. 1935. 📷2: USGS library in the Hooe Building, Washington, D.C. 1917. 📷3: USGS library display of the world-famous George Frederick Kunz library of gems and precious stones. Washington, D.C. 1935. #NationalLibraryWeek

Kīlauea Eruption Update — Episode 45 of Kīlauea summit lava fountaining began at 1:34 a.m. HST today, April 23, and is ongoing. This eruption is taking place within Kīlauea summit caldera in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. Lava fountains at the north vent are currently about 700 feet (200 meters) high. Winds are blowing from the north, which suggests that volcanic gas emissions and volcanic material may be distributed to the south/southwest from Halemaʻumaʻu. The National Weather Service Honolulu Forecasting Office has issued an Ashfall Advisory for the District of Ka’ū to the southwest of the eruptive vents. Fountaining episodes typically last 12 hours of less, but ash can remain in the air for longer depending on wind and weather conditions. Please stay aware of hazards and rely on official updates from USGS, National Weather Service, and Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park. 🎥 Video of episode 45 during the early morning hours on April 23, 2026. #Kilauea #Eruption #Lava

Happy Earth Day 🌎🌿 Earth is truly a beauty to behold, as seen in these stunning images captured through the USGS/NASA Landsat program. We capture these satellite images to create a long, continuous record of Earth’s land surface so we can monitor and understand how the planet is changing over time. Artemis II astronaut, Christina Koch, described her powerful experience of viewing our planet from space and what that meant to her. On Earth Day we are reminded of just how breathtaking the place we call home truly is. Images from the Earth As Art collection - link in story. 📷1: The Ganges River forms an extensive delta where it enters the Bay of Bengal. The delta is largely covered with swamp forest known as the Sundarbans, which is home to the Royal Bengal Tiger. 📷2: The Yukon River flows from northern British Columbia through Yukon, Canada, and Alaska, USA, before emptying into the Bering Sea. In the Yukon Delta, countless lakes, sloughs, and ponds are interconnected across one of the largest river deltas in the world. 📷3: In shallow waters near the Tyuleniy Archipelago in the Caspian Sea, ice movement has scoured the seafloor. Wind- and current-driven ice has carved visible lines through submerged vegetation, revealing the shallow bottom in detail. 📷4: Sediment in the Gulf of America off the Louisiana coast forms layered patterns of color in the water. River outflow carries sediment into the Gulf, creating complex swirling textures. 📷5: The Bangweulu Wetlands in Zambia receive inflow from seventeen rivers and drain through a single outlet. Grasslands, open water, and dense papyrus and reed beds create a highly interconnected wetland system. 📷6: Mangrove ecosystems along the Ord River in Australia form dense green patterns along tidal channels. Sediment and nutrient flows shape surrounding waters, with nearby mudflats supporting saltwater crocodiles. #EveryDayIsEarthDay

How a prehistoric lake helped carve the Grand Canyon 💧 Scientific discussion about the formation of the Grand Canyon began in 1869, with an expedition led by John Wesley Powell, a pioneering geologist and future director of the USGS. Powell navigated the Colorado River by boat, advanced early theories about the canyon’s origins and demonstrated the national need for a dedicated science agency—work that ultimately contributed to the creation and mission of the USGS. That legacy of exploration continues today, as researchers uncover new insights into the Grand Canyon’s origins. A new collaborative study led by the USGS provides strong evidence that the Grand Canyon was carved out by spillover flooding from ancient Lake Bidahochi, a large lake fed by the ancestral Colorado River. The lake’s eventual spillover likely helped establish the course of the Colorado River. Beginning about 6.6 million years ago, the sand within these lake deposits shows a clear and distinct Colorado River signature. Two million or so years later, evidence indicates the river system had fully integrated, connecting headwaters in the Rockies all the way to the Pacific through the Gulf of California, thus carving what is now the Grand Canyon along the way. Learn more about the study in today's story. 📷 1& 2: At Greasewood mesa the contrast between the dark red mudstone beds and the tan sand-dominated layers above marks the arrival of Colorado River sediment into the Bidahochi basin 6.6 million years ago. Photos by Brian Gootee, Arizona Geological Survey. Any person(s) wishing to conduct unmanned aerial vehicle flights on the Navajo Nation must first apply for and receive a permit from the Navajo Department of Transportation. 📷 3: Map showing the ancient lake that the Colorado may once have flowed into before spilling over into the Grand Canyon. The map shows present-day locations of the Colorado and San Juan rivers. 📷 4: John Wesley Powell's famous armchair boat on the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park, 1872. Photo credit: USGS 📷 5: Painting by Henry C. Pitz showing John Wesley Powell and his party going through the Grand Canyon.