The

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

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

volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure 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 oft ...

es and their eruptive history during the

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...

Period of Earth's geologic history, with particular emphasis on volcanic activity during the

Holocene The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene to ...

Epoch (the last 11,700 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 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 (NMNH) 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. With 4.4 ...

, on the

National Mall The National Mall is a Landscape architecture, landscaped park near the Downtown, Washington, D.C., downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institu ...

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), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...

'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 last 10,000 years. Three print editions of Volcanoes of the World were published based on the GVP data in 1981, 1994 and 2010. The third and fourth editions were regularly updated at the Program's website. , the fifth edition is available at the GVP website.

References

External links

* * {{Smithsonian Institution Volcanology Smithsonian Institution research programs

Global Volcanism Program Database

See also

References

External links