Editor’s note: This article appears in the new, all-digital issue of the University of Delaware Research magazine. This issue spotlights the importance of effective communication in our lives and tips for ensuring a healthy information diet. It also covers ways faculty and students are exploring new worlds through research—including volcanoes.

It was Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021, 3:21 p.m., Hawai‘i Standard Time (HST). Abigail Nalesnik was finishing her fieldwork for the day. The University of Delaware doctoral student had been collecting samples of volcanic rock along a gully west of the summit of Kīlauea — one of the most active volcanoes in the world — working alongside Kendra J. Lynn, geologist for the U.S. Geological Survey and an affiliated professor at UD.

Then the alert came.

“There was an earthquake swarm under the summit, although we hadn’t felt anything,” Nalesnik said. “As we began driving from my field site, we saw the smoke rising out of Halema‘uma‘u crater. It was an amazing first view of a volcanic plume!”

Read the rest of the interactive story at https://research.udel.edu/2022/08/01/volcano-eruption-kilauea-hawaii-abigail-nalesnik-kendra-lynn/