Coordinated Rapid Response to the 2015-16 Eruption of Volcan Momotombo, Nicaragua
Abstract
Volcán Momotombo, Nicaragua, is a basaltic to basaltic-andesite stratovolcano located in the active Central American Volcanic Arc. It has had 14 previous historic eruptions, including one in 1905. Prior to the 2015-2016 eruption onset, seismic swarms had been occurring beneath Momotombo for over a year, with the last precursory swarm beginning on November 24, 2015. This swarm included an M4.7 earthquake, and culminated in gas and ash eruptions beginning on December 1, 2015. By the evening of December 1, Momotombo was in strombolian eruption with columns to ~1 km altitude and lava flowing down the northern flank of the volcano in a channel formed during the 1905 eruption. By December 5, the effusive phase of the eruption had ended and a new phase of explosive activity began. Over the following four months, discrete explosive events were recorded and observed using seismic data and visual observations from webcams set around the volcano.
At the request of the Instituto Nicaragüense de Estudios Territoriales (INETER), a group of scientists from Penn State, University of South Florida, and Carnegie traveled to Nicaragua in December 2015 to collaborate with INETER scientists. Key to the success of this collaboration was the existence of long-standing ties between these institutions prior to the crisis onset. The response and collaborative analysis that followed involved analysis of InSAR data to detect deformation, deployment of new geodetic and seismic instruments around the volcano, analysis of existing data from permanent networks, sampling for geochemical analysis, and mapping of the lava flow and summit using new high-resolution DEMs derived from satellite and ground-based radar. Integration of INETER's real-time monitoring efforts with contributions from foreign collaborators allowed INETER to provide frequent and timely updates and warnings to authorities, the local population and a local geothermal plant as the eruption progressed, and later allowed development of an in-depth understanding of fundamental processes governing eruption precursors and phenomena at Momotombo. Our experience coordinating and carrying out an NSF RAPID-supported response to the 2015-2016 eruption of Momotombo provides a key basis for planning future coordinated academic-observatory rapid response to key eruptions worldwide.- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AGUFM.V34C..07R
- Keywords:
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- 3275 Uncertainty quantification;
- MATHEMATICAL GEOPHYSICS;
- 8419 Volcano monitoring;
- VOLCANOLOGY;
- 8488 Volcanic hazards and risks;
- VOLCANOLOGY;
- 8494 Instruments and techniques;
- VOLCANOLOGY