This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: The Hawaiian volcano Kīlauea is among the most active on Earth. Not only did it erupt almost continuously from 1983 to 2018, but it also began a new series of eruptions in late 2024 that continue as of late 2026.
The activity and accessibility of the volcano have enabled scientists to collect a wealth of data. However, the resolution of seismic images of the subsurface has been limited by sparse sensor coverage. That means, despite decades of data, scientists lacked a sharp seismic image of how magma is stored beneath the summit.
For their study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, Guoqing Lin and colleagues used a large network of seismometers to map the magma storage beneath Kīlauea's summit at high resolution. Using a seismic array that tracked both natural seismic activity and controlled artificial vibrations, the researchers identified two reservoirs for magma: one beneath the Halemaʻumaʻu crater in the main Kīlauea caldera and the other beneath the south caldera. The researchers' dense seismic array consisted of 1,815 small seismometers arranged to make a mesh roughly 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) on each side.
To the natural seismic signals from Kīlauea itself, they added artificial signals generated by the giant T-Rex vibroseis truck, which produces a range of controlled vibrations for active-source seismology. The combination of natural and generated seismic waves with a dense sensor configuration provided sufficient data to identify the two distinct magma reservoirs. The two reservoirs are separate near the surface but may connect at greater depth, and the work represents important progress toward understanding the exact underground plumbing.
This hybrid methodology has already proven fruitful for other studies at Kīlauea, which indicates it could be implemented at other active volcanoes or other seismically interesting sites around the planet, the authors say. Guoqing Lin et al., High‐Resolution Body‐Wave Tomography of Kı̄lauea's Summit Magma Storage System From a Dense Passive and Active Source Experiment, Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth (2026). DOI: 10.1029/2026jb034515 Journal information: Journal of Geophysical Research BA art history, MA material culture.
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