Social sensing a volcanic eruption: application to Kīlauea 2018

• DOI: 10.5194/nhess-2024-3
• Publication Date: 2024-01-10T11:47:01Z
• Authors: James Hickey; James Young; Michelle Spruce; Ravi Pandit; Hywel Williams; Rudy Arthur; Wendy Stovall; Matthew Head
• Keywords: Vulcanian eruption

Abstract. Protecting lives and livelihoods during volcanic eruptions is the key challenge in volcanology, conducted primarily by volcano monitoring emergency management organizations, but complicated scarce knowledge of how communities respond times crisis. Social sensing a rapidly developing practice that can be adapted for volcanology. Here we use social Twitter posts to track changes action reaction throughout 2018 eruption Kīlauea, Hawai'i. The volume relevant tweets explodes early May, coincident with beginning eruption; automated sentiment analysis shows simultaneous shift towards more negative emotions. Temporal trends topics local conversation reveal societal actions reflect patterns activity, civil protection socioeconomic pressures. We show hazard risk information discussed reacted on Twitter, which helps inform our understanding community response aids situational awareness.