Pre-eruptive inflation under Kilauea volcano modelled with timeseries InSAR

Kilauea volcano in Hawaii, is one of the most active and well-monitored volcanoes in the world, offering a great opportunity to study the magma transport and eruption processes. The May, 2018 eruption on Kilauea has resulted in continuous eruption of lava for ~3 months, with fissures reaching the far ends of the lower east rift zone into residential areas. The eruption is explained as a combination of magma inflation under the summit, intrusion of lava into the rift zone and summit collapse [Neal et al. 2019]. Characterizing the pre-eruptive inflation is crucial as it controls the intrusion into Upper East Rift Zone and post eruptive summit collapse.

In the current study, we used >300 Cosmo SkyMed Images to derive ground deformation over Kilauea during 2011-2018. We used Small Baseline (SBAS) InSAR technique to extract a time-series of deformation. The changing pattern of inflation during 2014-2018 suggest a multitude of sources active at different times. Using geodetic modelling we characterized three sources closely spaced at different depths. We present the source geometries and analyze them in relation to the 2000-2011 eruptive cycle as described in Baker et al., 2015. Further we investigate the post-eruptive ground deformation in the rift zones for a better characterization of the plumbing system underneath the volcano.