Abstract
On January 2008, a “silent” eruption took place on the northeast flank of Nevados de Chillán volcanic complex (Chile). The eruption had an effusive character and persisted for several months during which a small lava field (~0.12km2) was emplaced. Although occurring at <10km from several mountain resorts, and <70km from Chillán city (~150k inhabitants) this eruption was completely unnoticed by local authorities and was only inferred a year after, based on field reconnaissance. However, the post processing of MODIS-derived thermal images, by means of the MIROVA system (Middle Infrared Observation of Volcanic Activity), revealed that the eruptive episode produced a clear and detectable thermal signal for the whole duration of the effusion. Based on the thermal flux and a sequence of Landsat images, we suggest that the eruption was fed by three distinct segments of an ENE-oriented dike and characterized by two main effusive phases. About 1.4Mm3 of dacitic lava have been gently erupted (mean output rate of ~0.075m3s−1) without producing any evident manifestation (i.e. explosions, volcanic plumes, tremors, sounds) noticeable from distance. The results presented here demonstrate the capacity of thermal satellite data not only to detect but also to quantify the eruptive flux of a “silent” eruption, otherwise unreported.
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