GNSS-TEC observations of the atmospheric resonance excited by the 2015 April Plinian eruptions of the Calbuco volcano, Chile: Comparison with the 2014 Kelud eruption

Abstract:

GNSS-Total Electron Content (TEC) method is a useful tool to observe the ionosphere. We observed ionospheric disturbances caused by the lower atmospheric resonance excited by two recent Plinian volcanic eruptions. In the case of the 2014 eruption of the Kelud volcano, Indonesia (Nakashima et al., submitted), the lower atmospheric resonance excited by the continuing eruption caused long-lasting harmonic oscillations not only in the ionosphere but also in the solid earth. This year, we add the new case of the 2015 eruption of the Calbuco volcano, Chile. Two large eruptions occurred at the Calbuco volcano over the days 22- 23 April 2015. The first sub-Plinian eruption started at ~16:04 UT, Apr. 22, and continued for about 1.5 hours. The second one started at ~4:00 UT, Apr. 23, and lasted for 6 hours. We detected continuous oscillations of ionospheric TEC corresponding to the two eruptions using GPS and GLONASS data from stations of the Argentine GNSS Array: RAMSAC. The waves propagated with a speed of ~1.0 km/s from the volcano. The frequency spectra of the TEC variation in the first eruption on Apr. 22 showed clear peaks at 3.7 and 4.4 mHz, the lower atmospheric resonance frequencies. The perturbation also showed overtone peaks and a 10 mHz pulse-like signal at the onset of the continuous oscillation. The results suggest that a Vulcanian explosion occurred prior to the Plinian eruption. On the other hand, the second eruption on Apr. 23 showed only a weaker peak at 4.4 mHz without overtones, suggesting that the second eruption was weaker but lasted longer than the first one. We are going to present detailed records of the 2015 Calbuco case, and compare it with past cases of ionospheric disturbances by volcanic eruptions, e.g. the 2014 Kelud volcano eruption.