Turtles to Terabytes: The Ongoing Revolution in Volcano Geodesy

Abstract:

Volcano geodesy is in the midst of a revolution. GPS and InSAR, together with extensive ground-based sensor networks, have enabled major advances in understanding how and why volcanoes deform. Surveying techniques that produced a few bytes of information per benchmark per year have been replaced by continuously operating deformation networks and imaging radar satellites that generate terabytes of data at resolutions unattainable only a few decades ago. These developments have enabled more detailed assessments of volcano hazards, more accurate forecasts of volcanic activity, and better insights into how volcanoes behave over a variety of spatial and temporal scales. Forty years ago, repeated leveling surveys showed that the floor of the Yellowstone caldera had risen more than 70 cm in the past 5 decades. Today a network of GPS stations tracks surface movements continuously with millimeter-scale accuracy and the entire deformation field is imaged frequently by a growing number of SAR satellites, revealing a far more complex style of deformation than was recognized previously. At Mount St. Helens, the 1980-1986 eruption taught us that a seemingly quiescent volcano can suddenly become overtly restless, and that accurate eruption predictions are possible at least in some limited circumstances given sufficient observations. The lessons were revisited during the volcano’s 2004-2008 eruption, during which a new generation of geodetic sensors and methods detected a range of co-eruptive changes that enabled new insights into the volcano’s magma storage and transport system. These examples highlight volcano deformation styles and scales that were unknown just a few decades ago but now have been revealed by a growing number of data types and modeling methods. The rapid evolution that volcano geodesy is currently experiencing provides an ongoing challenge for geodesists, while also demonstrating that geodetic unrest is common, widespread, and illuminating. Vive la révolution!