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Volunteer Program of the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO)
Dozens of volunteers contribute thousands of hours each year to help
HVO's staff monitor the active volcanoes of Hawai`i and conduct
research on various aspects of Hawaiian volcanism. The volunteers
in turn gain experience working on active volcanoes and
participating in scientific research--collecting and analyzing
data, building and installing instruments for experiments and
volcano and earthquake monitoring, taking photographs and
conducting surveys, and working on team or individual research
projects.
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Volunteers range from undergraduate students to retired educators, computer
programmers to chemists, and writers to electricians. People come
from around the world to volunteer or work at HVO. Hawai`i's active
volcanoes and natural beauty make the volunteer positions very popular
and highly competitive.
If you are not a citizen of the United States the USGS Exchange
Visitor Program will enable you to collaborate and work with USGS
scientists, similar to volunteers.
HVO provides free lodging for as many as 7 volunteers at
a time in a fully-furnished house about 4 km from the Observatory.
Volunteers staying in our guest house must be willing to work for
at least three months on a full-time basis. Transportation is
provided between the house and HVO, but volunteers are responsible
for all non-work-related travel expenses (travel to and from Hilo,
Hawai`i, and travel on the Big Island and neighboring islands).
Volunteers are also responsible for all food and health-care costs.
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Many of the volunteer positions require work in the field, sometimes
in remote areas of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park and other parts
of the Big Island. For these positions, volunteers often must hike
several kilometers over rough and irregular ground in hot, humid
conditions, or sometimes in raw, bone-chilling cold and wet weather
high on the volcanoes. Also, some of the field sites are near active
fumaroles, and many sites are intermittently swept by the plume
of sulfur dioxide gas from the Pu`u `O`o vent--the noxious plume
poses a health hazard by aggravating preexisting respiratory ailments
(for more information about the plume, see
Volcanic air pollution--a hazard in Hawai`i).
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Volunteer information
Volunteer opportunities with the Federal Government are available to both citizens and non-citizens.
Some universities and other educational institutions will grant
academic credit for participation in volunteer projects. Student
volunteers are personally responsible for making all arrangements with
their instructors or department heads. The Federal Government will
cooperate in this process by providing a record of specific service upon
request.
The URL of this page is http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volunteer/
Contact: hvowebmaster@usgs.gov
Updated: 22 January 2013
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