Standing waves in high speed lava channels: A tool for constraining lava dynamics and eruptive parameters

Abstract

Estimates of the rheological properties of lava flows are essential for understanding their emplacement and for hazard assessment. Despite being a well-known phenomenon in water hydraulics, the formation and presence of standing waves in lava channels is poorly understood. Standing waves, generally located near the vent area, have been frequently described at high speed channelized lava flows. They are interpreted as hydraulic jumps indicating a flow under supercritical conditions. Identifying standing waves therefore offers an opportunity to apply open channel hydraulic theory for supercritical flows in order to determine important eruption parameters such as discharge rate and apparent viscosity. We use the length and amplitude of standing waves to reconstruct flow dynamics from both observational data and video analysis. The geometry of these standing waves allows us to extract the physical properties of the channelized lava (velocity, discharge rate, apparent viscosity), to estimate the channel depth and constrain the flow regime. With the rapid advances in technology, scientists can deploy equipment to enable low-cost real time monitoring of these phenomena and constrain eruption discharge rate and apparent viscosity, key parameters for volcanic hazard assessment and mitigation.