volcano.si.edu

Global Volcanology Program: a window into the fiery history of the Earth

Imagine a world where mountains breathe fire and ash. Volcano website. si. edu is exactly the place where all the data about such events is collected. It's a Smithsonian project called the Global Volcanology Program, or GVP. What they're doing is documenting eruptions over the last twelve thousand years. Not only big disasters but also small ones. Why is this important? Because to understand the future you need to know the past.

The focus of the program is the rapid transfer of information. When an eruption occurs somewhere, local observers report it and a month later a bulletin is published. But there is also a retrospective. They collect historical records and geological data. All this together helps us prepare for what may happen tomorrow. The Volcanoes of the World database contains a catalog of all active mountains for 12,000 years.

What's inside the database?

There are lists of volcanoes that erupted in 2025. You can find reports about current activity. There are daily and weekly summaries. For example, there was recently a report of a new fissure in the southwest with lava in June 2024. Or about the strong activity of the lava lake from October 2023 to May 2024. Ash plumes, thermal anomalies, all this is recorded. Even small explosions like the one on December 18, 2023 do not go unnoticed.

Interestingly, there are now about 40-50 ongoing eruptions at the same time. In total, over the past 12 thousand years there have been about 1222 active volcanoes. There are 693 of them in the world that belong to the Holocene, which is 57 percent of the total. They are scattered across 41 different regions. The most active countries are the USA Japan Indonesia Russia Chile. Sometimes people ask how many people live near dangerous mountains? Ten volcanoes have more than a million people within a five kilometer radius.

Some mountains burn for a very long time. There are 106 eruptions that lasted five years or more. And the Yasur volcano in Vanuatu may have been erupting for more than 750 years! This is simply incredible. The database is updated regularly. In December 2025, version 5. 3. 4 was released. Also in August, they launched a new project together with the USGS that provides brief daily reports from Mondays to Fridays.

• name: Description content: The Global Volcanism Program (GVP) seeks better understanding of all volcanoes through documenting their eruptions--small as well as large--during the past 12,000 years. The range of volcanic behavior is great enough, and volcano lifetimes are long enough, that we must integrate observations of contemporary activity with historical and geological records of the recent past in order to prepare wisely for the future. The contemporary focus of the GVP is evident in the central role we play in the rapid dissemination of on-going eruption reports from local observers through our monthly Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network. Our retrospective effort to document Earth's volcanic eruptions of the last 12,000 years has led to development of comprehensive databases and an archive of relevant maps, photos, and documents. Through these two complementary approaches we attempt to provide a context in which any individual volcano's benefits and dangers can be usefully assessed.
• name: Author content: Smithsonian Institution
• name: Keywords content: gvp, volcano, volcanoes, volcanology, volcanism, eruption, eruptive, erupting, Holocene
• name: DC.Title content: Global Volcanism Program
• name: DC.Title.Alternative content: Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program
• name: DC.Format.MIME content: text/html
• name: DC.Contributor.CorporateName content: Smithsonian Institution. Global Volcanism Program.
• name: DC.Publisher content: Global Volcanism Program, National Museum of Natural History, MRC 119, Smithsonian Institution,
• name: DC.Publisher.Place content: Washington, DC:
• name: DC.Date.Issued content: 1996-
• name: DC.Description content: The Global Volcanism Program (GVP) seeks better understanding of all volcanoes through documenting their eruptions during the past 12,000 years.
• name: DC.Description.Summary content: This site is the homepage for the Global Volcanism Program at the Smithsonian Institution. It provides current volcanic activity notices, reports published by the Smithsonian since 1968, and basic data about over 1,200 Holocene volcanoes.
• name: DC.Description.Contents content: Volcanic Activity Reports -- Volcanoes of the World
• name: DC.Identifier.URL content: https://volcano.si.edu/
• name: DC.Language content: english
• name: DC.Subject scheme: LCC Local content: QE522
• name: DC.Subject scheme: CorporateName content: Smithsonian Institution. Global Volcanism Program.
• name: DC.Subject scheme: LCSH content: Volcanoes - Electronic information resources.
• name: DC.Subject scheme: LCSH content: Paleogeography - Holocene - Electronic information resources.
• name: DC.Subject scheme: Keyword content: volcano, volcanoes, volcanology, volcanism, eruption, eruptive, erupting, Holocene
• name: DC.Relation.Requires content: Mode of access: World Wide Web. Host: volcano.si.edu/
• property: og:site_name content: Smithsonian Institution | Global Volcanism Program
• property: og:title content: Global Volcanism Program
• property: og:url content: https://volcano.si.edu/
• property: og:description content: The Global Volcanism Program (GVP) seeks better understanding of all volcanoes through documenting their eruptions during the past 12,000 years.
• property: og:type content: website
• property: og:image content: https://volcano.si.edu/includes/images/GVP_LogoBanner.jpg
• property: og:image:secure_url content: https://volcano.si.edu/includes/images/GVP_LogoBanner.jpg
• property: og:image:type content: image/jpeg
• property: og:image:alt content: Smithsonian GVP Logo
• name: twitter:site content: @SmithsonianGVP
• name: twitter:card content: summary_large_image

• Home
• Eruptions in 2025 (New/Total):
• Info & Contacts
• Current eruptions
• Smithsonian / USGS Daily Volcanic Activity Report
• Full Weekly Volcanic Activity Report
• Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network
• Holocene Volcano List
• Holocene Volcano Search
• Holocene Eruption Search
• Pleistocene Volcano List
• Country Volcano Lists
• Volcanic Regions List
• Webservices
• Database Information
• Image Collections
• Video Collections
• Theme Collections
• Keyword Collections
• Student Art Galleries
• Frequent Questions
• Information Sources
• Google Earth Placemarks
• This Dynamic Planet
• St. Helens 40th Anniversary (2021)
• Contact Us
• How to Cite
• About GVP
• Terms of Use
• Volcano Numbers
• Volcano Naming
• Nyiragongo
• Piton de la Fournaise
• Ambae
• Manam
• Langila
• Sheveluch
• Eruptions in 2026 (New/Total):
• What was erupting in the year...?
• Kilauea
• Bagana
• Krakatau
• Ambrym
• Reventador
• Erta Ale
• Popocatepetl
• Ubinas
• Kanaga
• Klyuchevskoy
• Agung
• Saunders
• Tengger Caldera
• Shishaldin
• What volcanoes and volcanic regions form the "Pacific Ring of Fire"?
• Which countries have the most volcanoes?
• How many Holocene volcanoes are there?
• Has volcanic activity been increasing?
• What volcanoes have had the longest eruptions?
• What volcanoes have the most people living nearby?
• What volcanoes are the most noteworthy?
• Global Volcanism Program
• Contact GVP

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