Ground-Coupled Airwaves at Pavlof Volcano, Alaska, and their Potential for Eruption Monitoring

An abnormally high number of explosion quakes were noted during the monitoring effort for the 2007 eruption of Pavlof Volcano on the Alaska Peninsula. In this study, we manually cataloged the explosion quakes from their characteristic ground-coupled airwaves. This study investigates how the ground-coupled airwaves might be used in a monitoring or analysis effort by estimating energy release and gas mass release. Over 3 × 104 quakes were recorded. The energy release from the explosions is approximated to be 3 × 1011 J, and the total gas mass (assuming 100 % water) released was 450 t. The tracking of explosion quakes has the potential to estimate relative eruption intensity as a function of time and is thus a useful component of a seismic monitoring program

Atmospheric controls on ground and space-based remote detection of volcanic ash Injection into the atmosphere, and link to early warning systems for aviation hazard mitigation

Violent volcanic eruptions, common especially in Southeast Asia, posean ongoing serious threat to aviation and local communities. However, the physicalconditions at the eruptive vent are difficult to estimate. In order to tackle thisproblem, satellite imagery and infrasound can rapidly provide information aboutstrong eruptions of volcanoes not closely monitored by on-site instruments. Forexample, the recent infrasonic array at Singapore, installed to support the coverageof the International Monitoring System, allows identification of nearby eruptingvolcanoes based on the characteristics of the recorded signal. But, due to its locationclose to the equator, seasonal changes in the wind velocity structure of the atmospherestrongly affect its potential to detect small volcanic eruptions at certainazimuths. To overcome this limit, infrasound could be augmented with satellite data. Yet, with the high average cloud cover in Southeast Asia, there are alsochallenges to identify weak volcanic plumes using satellite based monitoringtechniques. In this chapter, we aim to examine the relative strengths and weaknessesof the two technologies to better understand the possibility to improveoverall detection capability by combining infrasound with satellite imagery