PBO-Style Seismic and Geodetic Monitoring at Frequently-Active Aleutian Arc Volcanoes
Abstract
A major goal of EarthScope and the Plate Boundary Observatory (PBO) is to obtain real-time data on the dynamics of magma transport and the physical processes surrounding magmatic intrusions before, during, and after eruption. To accomplish this the PBO has selected five active Aleutian arc volcanic centers for instrumentation; Augustine, Pavlof, Unimak Island (the location of Isanotski, Shishaldin, Fisher Caldera, and Westdahl Volcano), Akutan, and Okmok. Six of these volcanoes have erupted within the last 20 years and four are known to be actively deforming. The frequency of eruptive activity at these volcanoes, as well as diverse chemistry of erupted products, makes these volcanic centers unique natural laboratories within the North American plate boundary system for studying active volcanism. During the summer of 2002 the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) began deployment of PBO-style networks consisting of continuous GPS receivers collocated with broadband seismometers at Akutan Volcano and Okmok Caldera. Five GPS receivers were installed in 2002, and are recording on-site. Three GPS receivers on Okmok radio data approximately 70 km to Dutch Harbor. The radio system provides full duplex serial communication between the instruments at each remote site and the central recording system in Dutch Harbor. Planned 2003 work includes adding broadband seismometers to the existing sites and adding three more sites for a total of four telemetered broadband-GPS sites on each volcano. These deployments complement short-period seismic networks that were deployed on Akutan Volcano and Okmok Caldera in 1996 and 2002 and campaign GPS measurements begun in 1996 and 2000, respectively. The instruments installed this year and the addition of the broadband seismometers in 2003 will greatly improve our ability to study volcanic processes. Once the existing networks are enhanced by additional instrumentation through PBO, they will provide the opportunity to study the mechanics and geometry of magmatic intrusions, the implications of long-period and very-long-period seismic events, strain transients associated with magma transport, the degree of remote and static triggering of magmatic intrusions and earthquake swarms, and the interplay between magmatic systems and regional tectonics.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2002
- Bibcode:
- 2002AGUFM.T72E..08M
- Keywords:
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- 8120 Dynamics of lithosphere and mantle: general;
- 8419 Eruption monitoring (7280);
- 8494 Instruments and techniques