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1 1 (June 13, 2022)

handle is hein.crs/govefxj0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service informning the Iegislative debate since 1914 Updated June 13, 2022 The National Volcano Early Warning System In 2019, Congress authorized a National Volcano Early Warning and Monitoring System (NVEWS; Section 5001 of P.L. 116-9; 43 U.S.C. 31k). The law directs the Secretary of the Interior to establish NVEWS to monitor volcanoes, warn U.S. citizens of volcanic activity, and protect citizens from undue and avoidable harm resulting from volcanic activity. In FY2022, Congress provided funds to begin implementation of NVEWS. Many in Congress are interested in a volcano early warning and monitoring system because the nation faces threats from many active volcanoes. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS, a bureau within the Department of the Interior) published an assessment in 2018 of the volcanic threat and indicated that better monitoring is necessary for effective warnings. The USGS volcanic threat assessment assigned five threat levels (very high, high, moderate, low, and very low) to 161 volcanoes in 14 states and U.S. territories (see Figure 1).The threat assessment ranked 18 volcanoes as very high and 39 as high. Eleven of the 18 very-high-threat volcanoes are in Washington, Oregon, or California; 5 are in Alaska; and 2 are in Hawaii. The assessment notes that the high- and moderate-threat volcanoes are mostly in Alaska and that the more explosive Alaskan volcanoes can affect national and international aviation. The volcano ranked as the highest threat is Kilauea, the Hawaiian volcano whose 2018 intense eruptions were accompanied by destructive lava flows and earthquakes. The USGS asserted that many of the very-high- and high- threat volcanoes are not monitored well enough to provide adequate warnings. Congress authorized the USGS to remedy these monitoring gaps and enhance warnings by establishing NVEWS. NVEWS is to be organized within the USGS Volcano Hazards Program (VHP). VHP studies, monitors, assesses, and warns the public about threatening volcanoes in the United States. VHP operates five volcano observatories (Alaska, California, Cascades, Hawaiian, and Yellowstone; see Figure 1), a Volcano Science Center, and a Volcano Disaster Assistance Program (to assist with volcano threats in other countries). N EWS Author za'on The 2019 law authorizes NVEWS and specifies that the system's objective is to monitor U.S. volcanoes at a level commensurate with the volcanic threats. NVEWS is to have two purposes: (1) organize, modernize, standardize, and stabilize the monitoring systems of the five U.S. volcano observatories and (2) unify the monitoring systems of these observatories into a single inter-operative system. Figure I. USGS Volcano Observatories and U.S. Volcanoes Posing Moderate or Higher Threat 180* 135W A VO 2018 USGS National A o n4KVolcanic Threat Assessment Volcano Threat Categories AVOA Very High A High A Moderate CVOYVO 0 USGS Volcano Observatories 4 N AVO Alaska Volkano YVO An hor F irbanks AK CVO- Cascades VoIcano CaIVO anouve, WA HVO- H wal n Vokcano Hawai Island, H1 CaIVO- California Volcano Moffett ield, CA yAWA M ~ YVO- Yelowstone Vocano Vancouver. WA Source: CRS adapted from Peter F. Cervelli, et al., USGS, Five-Year Management Plan for Establishing and Operating NVEWS: The National Volcano Early Warning System, Open-File Report 2021-1092, at https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr202 11092. Notes: The two high and seven moderate threat volcanoes in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands are not shown here. The AVO is responsible for these volcanoes. The light tan shaded areas with black line borders mark the areal coverage of each observatory and show the locations of threatening volcanoes that these observatories are responsible for monitoring. The CVO and YVO labels mark the area of coverage for these observatories, meaning CVO monitors volcanoes in Washington, Oregon and Idaho and YVO monitors volcanoes in Yellowstone National Park, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona.

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