Articles | Volume 25, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-1681-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-1681-2025
Research article
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12 May 2025
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 12 May 2025

Social sensing a volcanic eruption: application to Kīlauea, 2018

James Hickey, James Young, Michelle Spruce, Ravi Pandit, Hywel Williams, Rudy Arthur, Wendy Stovall, and Matthew Head

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Cited articles

Aebi, N. J., De Ridder, D., Ochoa, C., Petrovic, D., Fadda, M., Elayan, S., Sykora, M., Puhan, M., Naslund, J. A., Mooney, S. J., and Gruebner, O.: Can Big Data Be Used to Monitor the Mental Health Consequences of COVID-19?, Int. J. Public Health, 66, 633451, https://doi.org/10.3389/ijph.2021.633451, 2021. 
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Anderson, K. R., Johanson, I. A., Patrick, M. R., Gu, M., Segall, P., Poland, M. P., Montgomery-Brown, E. K., and Miklius, A.: Magma reservoir failure and the onset of caldera collapse at Kīlauea Volcano in 2018, Science, 80, 366, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaz1822, 2019. 
Armijos, M. T., Phillips, J., Wilkinson, E., Barclay, J., Hicks, A., Palacios, P., Mothes, P., and Stone, J.: Adapting to changes in volcanic behaviour: Formal and informal interactions for enhanced risk management at Tungurahua Volcano, Ecuador, Global Environ. Chang., 45, 217–226, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2017.06.002, 2017. 
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Editorial statement
This paper shows a very useful analysis of social media activities during volcanic eruptions. The authors used social sensing of Twitter posts to track social action and reaction changes throughout the 2018 eruption of Kīlauea, Island of Hawaiʻi.
Short summary
Protecting lives and livelihoods during volcanic eruptions is the key challenge in volcanology. Analysing social media usage during volcanic crises can help us better understand the impacts of volcanic eruptions and how warning messages are received and actioned, to eventually better protect those people and their livelihoods. Our work shows how social media data could be used in real time during a volcanic crisis to learn more about volcanic eruptions.
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