After 53 years of quiescence, Mount Agung awoke in August 2017, with intense seismicity, measurable ground deformation, and thermal anomalies in the summit crater. Although the seismic unrest peaked in late September and early October, the volcano did not start erupting until 21 November. The most intense explosive eruptions with accompanying rapid lava effusion occurred between 25 and 29 November. Smaller infrequent explosions and extrusions continue through the present (June 2019). The delay between intense unrest and eruption caused considerable challenges to emergency responders, local and national governmental agencies, and the population of Bali near the volcano, including over 140,000 evacuees. This paper provides an overview of the volcanic activity at Mount Agung from the viewpoint of the volcano observatory and other scientists responding to the volcanic crisis. We discuss the volcanic activity as well as key data streams used to track it. We provide evidence that magma intruded into the mid-crust in early 2017, and again in August of that year, prior to intrusion of an inferred dike between Mount Agung and Batur Caldera that initiated an earthquake swarm in late September. We summarize efforts to forecast the behavior of the volcano, to quantify exclusion zones for evacuations, and to work with emergency responders and other government agencies to make decisions during a complex and tense volcanic crisis.

This study investigates phreatic eruptions at two similar volcanoes, Kawah Ijen (Indonesia) and White Island (New Zealand). By carefully processing broadband seismic signals, we reveal seismic signatures and characteristics of these eruptions. At both volcanoes, the phreatic eruptions are initiated by a very-long-period (VLP) seismic event located at shallow depths between 700 and 900 m below the crater region, and may be triggered by excitation of gas trapped behind a ductile magma carapace. The shallow hydrothermal systems respond in different ways. At Kawah Ijen, the stress change induced by VLPs directly triggers an eigenoscillation of the hyperacidic lake. This so-called seiche is characterized by long-lasting, long-period oscillations with frequencies governed by the dimensions of the crater lake. A progressive lateral rupture of a seal below the crater lake and/or fluids migrating toward the surface is seismically recorded ∼ 15 min later as high-frequency bursts superimposed to tilt signals. At White Island, the hydrothermal system later (∼ 25 min) responds by radiating harmonic tremor at a fixed location that could be generated through eddy-shedding. These seismic signals shed light on several aspects of phreatic eruptions, their generation and timeline. They are mostly recorded at periods longer than tens of seconds further emphasizing the need to deploy broadband seismic equipment close to active volcanic activity.

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Abstract. We conducted travel time tomographic inversion to image seismic velocity structures (Vp, Vs, and Vp/Vs ratio) with simultaneous hypocenter adjustment beneath the Guntur volcano complex that is located in the Garut district, West Java province, Indonesia. The Guntur volcano is one of the active volcanoes in Indonesia, although large eruptions have not occurred for about 160 years. We used volcanic and tectonic earthquakes catalog data from seismic stations deployed by Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (CVGHM). For the tomographic inversion procedure, we set grid nodes with a horizontal spacing of 2 x 2 km 2 and an average vertical spacing of 2 km. Our results show low Vp, low Vs, and high Vp/Vs ratio regions beneath the Guntur crater and the Gandapura caldera at depths of 6-8 km and 7-9 km, respectively. These features can be associated with amelt-filled pore rock structure. However, a low Vp/Vs ratio and low velocities are exhibited beneath the Kamojang caldera at depths of 2-6 km that may be associated with rock with H 2 O-filled pores with a high aspect ratio.