The

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

's Global Volcanism Program (GVP) documents Earth's

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates ...

es and their eruptive history over the past 10,000 years. The mission of the GVP is to document, understand, and disseminate information about global volcanic activity.

Global Volcanism Program Database

The GVP gathers information and reports on current eruptions from around the world, and maintains a database repository on active volcanoes, their eruptions and their eruption histories. In this way, a global context for the planet's active

volcanism Volcanism, vulcanism or volcanicity is the phenomenon of eruption of molten rock (magma) onto the Earth#Surface, surface of the Earth or a solid-surface planet or moon, where lava, pyroclastics, and volcanic gases erupt through a break in the su ...

is presented. Smithsonian reporting on current volcanic activity dates back to 1968, with the Center for Short-Lived Phenomena (CSLP). The GVP is housed in the Department of Mineral Sciences, part of the

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with ...

, on the

National Mall The National Mall is a landscaped park near the downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institution, art galleries, cultural institutions, and va ...

in Washington, D.C. During the early stages of an eruption, the GVP acts as a clearing house of reports, data, and imagery which are accumulated from a global network of contributors. The early flow of information is managed such that the right people are contacted as well as helping to sort out vague and contradictory aspects that typically arise during the early days of an eruption. The Weekly Volcanic Activity Report is a cooperative project between the Smithsonian's Global Volcanism Program and the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

's Volcano Hazards Program. Notices of volcanic activity posted on the report website are preliminary and subject to change as events are studied in more detail. Detailed reports on various volcanoes are published monthly in the ''Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network'' The GVP also documents the last 10,000 years of Earth's volcanism. The GVP database includes all known volcanoes that have erupted within the past 10,000 years, and includes listings of eruption dates, and eruptive phenomena; and lists of named volcanoes and volcanic features, with synonyms where they exist. In recent years, the database has been extended to include links to digital imagery, and physical samples that are archived in the

Collections. The historic activity can guide perspectives on possible future events and on volcanoes showing activity. GVP's volcano and eruption databases constitute a foundation for all statistical statements concerning locations, frequencies, and magnitudes of Earth's volcanic eruptions during the past recent 10,000 years. Three print editions of Volcanoes of the World were published based on the GVP data in 1981, 1994 and 2010.

References

External links

Global Volcanism ProgramGlobal Volcanism Program Facebook page
{{Smithsonian Institution Volcanology Smithsonian Institution research programs

Global Volcanism Program Database

See also

References

External links