Abstract
AbstractAfter 20 years of quiescence, Fogo volcano erupted in November 2014. The eruption produced fast‐moving lava flows that traveled for several kilometers and destroyed two villages. This event represents the first episode of significant surface deformation imaged by the new European Space Agency's Sentinel‐1 satellite in its standard acquisition mode, Terrain Observation by Progressive Scans (TOPS), which differs from that of previous synthetic aperture radar (SAR) missions. We perform a Bayesian inversion of Sentinel‐1 TOPS SAR interferograms spanning the eruption and accurately account for variations in the TOPS line‐of‐sight vector when modeling displacements. Our results show that magma ascended beneath the Pico do Fogo cone and then moved laterally toward its southwestern flank, where the eruptive fissure opened. This study provides important insights into the inner workings of Fogo volcano and shows the potential of Sentinel‐1 TOPS interferometry for geophysical (e.g., volcano monitoring) applications.
Highlights
Pico do Fogo, on Fogo Island, is the most active volcano in the Cape Verde archipelago and in the Central Atlantic oceanic region (Figure 1a), with at least 26 eruptions in the past 500 years [Day et al, 1999]
We describe the deformation associated with the 2014–2015 Pico do Fogo eruption and highlight the potential of Sentinel-1 Terrain Observation by Progressive Scans (TOPS) interferometry for studies of Earth processes associated with natural hazards
We successfully generate Sentinel-1 TOPS-mode interferograms free of coregistration phase artifacts and use them to constrain a mechanical model of the 2014–2015 Pico do Fogo eruption
Summary
Pico do Fogo, on Fogo Island, is the most active volcano in the Cape Verde archipelago and in the Central Atlantic oceanic region (Figure 1a), with at least 26 eruptions in the past 500 years [Day et al, 1999]. After nearly 20 years of quiescence since the last eruption in 1995, a new phase of unrest started in 2014 leading to an eruption on 23 November 2014, which lasted for approximately 81 days until early February 2015 During this event, strombolian activity along a 1.2 km long radial linear fissure fed voluminous and fast-moving lava flows. The onset of the Pico do Fogo eruption in November 2014 represents the first episode of significant surface deformation related to tectonic or volcanic processes to be imaged by Sentinel-1 in TOPS mode. The Sentinel-1 data set is compared to surface displacement maps derived using data from a higher spatial resolution C band radar satellite, RADARSAT-2. This comparison shows that the two data sets captured the coeruptive deformation well. Our results indicate that the most recent eruption at Fogo was fed by a subvertical dike, which intruded the shallow portion of the volcanic edifice after rising from depth beneath Pico do Fogo
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