TRICIA NADEAU

Coolest job ever. No, make that the hottest job ever. As a volcanologist, Tricia Nadeau has a front-row seat to erupting volcanoes.

- Sarah Miller

Recently, these active volcanoes have included Hawai'i's Mauna Loa that erupted in November 2022 and Kilauea that erupted in June 2023. Kilauea's recent event was the fourth in a string of eruptions since 2020.

Nadeau researches the geologic impacts of volcanoes and the gases they produce. Her office is in one of the most beautiful, and geographically diverse, places in the world-Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park on the island of Hawaii.

Hot molten lava and explosive displays are part of the job. The volcanoes can be unpredictable, making Nadeau's schedule sometimes irregular. We caught up with her early in the morning the week of Kilauea's June eruption. This event had added to an already busy week for her. She'd just done a scheduled helicopter ride over Mauna Loa.

STUNNING 200FOOT (61-METER) LAVA FOUNTAINS ARE SPEWING FROM KILAUEA AGAIN. CAN YOU TAKE US INTO KILAUEA'S ERUPTION?

Right now, in the daylight, the new liquid lava is shiny and silvery. The very hottest parts where you have those lava fountains show up as orange. When it hardens in the day, lava turns to black. Then at night, anything liquid just glows in oranges, reds, and yellows.

FASCINATING! TELL US ABOUT YOUR WEEK.

Here at the volcano observatory, we all rotate being "duty scientists." That means we check the data and make sure things don't escalate for those out in the field. I took over on Tuesday, and that evening I received a text alert of seismic activity. We received warnings all through the night. Then around 3 a.m., activity ramped up so much that we changed the alert level. An hour later, lava showed up in the summit crater.