Volcano infrasound: progress and future directions

Abstract

Over the past two decades (2000–2020), volcano infrasound (acoustic waves with frequencies less than 20 Hz propagating in the atmosphere) has evolved from an area of academic research to a useful monitoring tool. As a result, infrasound is routinely used by volcano observatories around the world to detect, locate, and characterize volcanic activity. It is particularly useful in confirming subaerial activity and monitoring remote eruptions, and it has shown promise in forecasting paroxysmal activity at open-vent systems. Fundamental research on volcano infrasound is providing substantial new insights on eruption dynamics and volcanic processes and will continue to do so over the next decade. The increased availability of infrasound sensors will expand observations of varied eruption styles, and the associated increase in data volume will make machine learning workflows more feasible. More sophisticated modeling will be applied to examine infrasound source and propagation effects from local to global distances, leading to improved infrasound-derived estimates of eruption properties. Future work will use infrasound to detect, locate, and characterize moving flows, such as pyroclastic density currents, lahars, rockfalls, lava flows, and avalanches. Infrasound observations will be further integrated with other data streams, such as seismic, ground- and satellite-based thermal and visual imagery, geodetic, lightning, and gas data. The volcano infrasound community should continue efforts to make data and codes accessible and to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion in the field. In summary, the next decade of volcano infrasound research will continue to advance our understanding of complex volcano processes through increased data availability, sensor technologies, enhanced modeling capabilities, and novel data analysis methods that will improve hazard detection and mitigation.

Stratospheric Balloon Observations of Infrasound Waves From the 15 January 2022 Hunga Eruption, Tonga

“…Event identification is challenging and not always meaningful given the complexity of the plume evolution and sources at play. Nevertheless, the comparison tends to suggest a significant role of processes related to plume dynamics (Fee & Matoza, 2013; Matoza et al., 2009; Watson et al., 2022; Woulff & McGetchin, 1976) in Hunga infrasound generation. It highlights the value of STR1's records which, gathered inside a waveguide, appear well‐placed for source characterization.…”

Stratospheric balloon observations of infrasound wavesfrom the January 15 2022 Hunga eruption, Tonga

“…Event identification is challenging and not always meaningful given the complexity of the plume evolution and sources at play. Nevertheless, the general comparison tends to suggest a significant role of processes related to plume dynamics (Woulff & McGetchin, 1976;Matoza et al, 2009;Fee & Matoza, 2013;Watson et al, 2022) in Hunga infrasound generation. It highlights the value of STR1's records which, gathered inside a waveguide, appear well-placed for source characterization.…”

Lava fountain jet noise during the 2018 eruption of fissure 8 of Kīlauea volcano

“…Ideally, the characterization of eruptions should be done remotely and independent of weather and light conditions to minimize exposure of scientists in the field and assure constant surveillance. The use of infrasound has been proven effective in characterizing eruption dynamics (e.g., Ulivieri et al, 2013;Ripepe et al, 2018;Watson et al, 2022). Acoustic waves are characterized as infrasound when their frequencies are below 20 Hz.…”