Jaggar Museum

Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

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There's plenty packed into this small one-room geology museum including real-time seismographs and tiltmeters recording earthquakes inside the park (and under your feet). Other exhibits introduce Hawaiian gods and goddesses and give a short history of the neighboring Hawaiʻi Volcano Observatory (closed to visitors), founded by famed vulcanologist Dr Thomas A Jaggar. Park rangers frequently give geology talks inside the museum, while throngs of visitors pack the porch outside for the best view of the lava lake in Halemaʻumaʻu Crater.

The museum and observatory sit high on the Kilauea's rim above the sacred cliffs of Uwekahuna (wailing priests). These terraces formed when the caldera collapsed inward forming a 1600ft deep hole, which has since been filled with 1200ft of lava.

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