The dynamics of large silicic systems from satellite remote sensing observations: the intriguing case of Domuyo volcano, Argentina

Paul Lundgren,Társilo Girona,Vincent J Realmuto,Eric Gurrola,Sergey Samsonov,Michael Aivazis,Mary Grace Bato,Carlos Cardona,Luis Franco

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-67982-8

Paul Lundgren, Társilo Girona + Show 7 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-67982-8

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Abstract

Silicic magmatic systems are the most dangerous volcanoes on Earth, capable of large and catastrophic eruptions, yet their low eruptive frequency makes it challenging to interpret their short-term unrest. Here we present a decade-plus analysis that integrates, for the first time, time series of satellite interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) surface deformation and satellite thermal infrared edifice-scale surface warming at a large silicic system: Domuyo volcano, in Argentina. We find that deformation and warming are highly correlated, and depending on the sign and lag between the time series, either shallow sealing or magma influx could drive Domuyo’s ongoing inflation (~ 0.15 m/year; from an InSAR-derived tabular source, ~ 11 × 8 × 1 km; ~ 6.5 km depth; ~ 0.037 km3/year volume-change rate) and warming (0.3–0.4 °C/year). This study shows the potential that combined satellite surface deformation and edifice-scale surface warming time series have on assessing the physical mechanisms of silicic volcanic systems and for constraining deterministic models.

Highlights

Silicic magmatic systems are the most dangerous volcanoes on Earth, capable of large and catastrophic eruptions, yet their low eruptive frequency makes it challenging to interpret their shortterm unrest
We present the results from analysis of interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data and geodetic source modeling, thermal infrared (TIR) surface warming time series, and cross-correlation of the two time-series
We find three primary correlation magnitudes with opposite lags and signs (Fig. 3b): (1) a positive lag with negative correlation amplitude, which implies that the InSAR time series follows the thermal time series by ~ 1.5 years with opposite sign; (2) a positive lag with positive correlation amplitude, which implies that the InSAR time series follows the thermal time series by ~ 6.9 years with same sign; and (3) a negative time lag with positive correlation amplitude, which implies that the thermal increase that began in mid-2017 follows the InSAR observed inflation starting in mid-2014 by ~ 2.7 years

Summary

Introduction

Silicic magmatic systems are the most dangerous volcanoes on Earth, capable of large and catastrophic eruptions, yet their low eruptive frequency makes it challenging to interpret their shortterm unrest. The second, recently developed, approach[7] consists of computing the long-term (> 1 year), large-scale (10 s-to-100 s of k m2), variations of the volcano’s median ground brightness temperature using the MODIS instruments aboard NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites, which are thought to reflect the enhancement of subsurface hydrothermal activity. This technique has been shown to be efficient at detecting long-term pre-eruptive surface warming for different types of eruptions (including magmatic, phreatic, and hydrothermal), even for volcanoes where no other unrest signals have been reported

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