Geometria e Evolução Tectônica da Porção Norte do Gráben de Merluza, Bacia de Santos

O Gráben de Merluza é uma estrutura alongada com uma calha profunda, presente na Bacia de Santos, com direção aproximada NNE, que se estende por cerca de 170 km ao largo do litoral do estado de São Paulo. Este trabalho teve como objetivo caracterizar a geometria da sua porção norte, e relacionar os eventos de abertura, preenchimento sedimentar e períodos de reativação das falhas que o delimitam. Além disso, buscou-se uma correlação com outros eventos ocorridos na bacia e na porção continental adjacente. Para isso, foram reprocessadas e interpretadas onze seções sísmicas bidimensionais (2D) migradas em tempo, fornecidas pela Agência Nacional do Petróleo (ANP), das quais três foram detalhadas e utilizadas para a definição dos principais aspectos geométricos e tectônicos do gráben. Nas seções sísmicas 248-0041, 248-0045 e 248-0048 foram identificadas tectonossequências, sendo uma do pré-sal, uma do pacote evaporítico e outras nove do pós-sal. A Porção Norte do Gráben de Merluza caracteriza-se por uma falha de borda principal com mergulho para W e uma falha subordinada mergulhando para E. O limite entre a Porção Norte e a Porção Central se faz pela Zona de Transferência de Merluza, também conhecido como Lineamento Capricórnio. Tal feição possui um caráter regional na bacia e é responsável por uma mudança na direção da falha principal do Gráben de Merluza, que passa a mergulhar para E, enquanto que a falha secundária mergulha para W. Devido à baixa qualidade do dado sísmico nas partes mais profundas, não é possível precisar com segurança uma idade de abertura inicial para o gráben. No entanto, verificou-se que a falha principal pode atingir profundidades superiores às observadas nas linhas sísmicas, ou seja, mais de 1500 milissegundos. Com base na presença de seção sedimentar do pré-sal na calha do gráben afetada pela tectônica do embasamento, estima-se uma idade mínima aptiana. Sobre o horst que acompanha a falha principal na porção norte do gráben desenvolvem-se espessos domos de sal originados pelo escape da sequência evaporítica da calha do gráben e das imediações a leste. Entre o Cenomaniano e o Santoniano ocorre a maior movimentação da falha principal, com um forte rejeito e um expressivo volume de sedimentos oriundos do continente (podendo atingir mais de 4000 metros), devido à erosão da Serra do Mar Cretácea. Durante o Cenozóico foram observadas reativações das falhas de borda do gráben por conta de compactação das camadas superiores e por tectônica salífera. Além disso, progradações em direção ao fundo da bacia parecem indicar que a estrutura do Gráben de Merluza condicionou a Quebra da Plataforma nessa região durante o Neógeno. Tais eventos podem estar relacionados à tectônica ocorrida durante a formação do Sistema de Riftes Continentais do Sudeste Brasileiro.

内蒙古草原温度梯度上3个典型群落的能量平衡研究

通量测量点的能量收支总是表现出不平衡，即使在地势平坦、植被分布均一、稀疏植被下垫面的情况下也有约30%的能量失衡状况。能量平衡闭合 (EBC) 问题在验证涡度相关系统质量方面，得到了广泛的关注。实验在内蒙古草原3个地点，通过涡度相关系统附近移动能量平衡系统的测定手段，采用能量平衡余项法和最小二乘 (OLS) 线性回归法，研究了土壤热通量、净辐射及可供能量空间变异对能量平衡闭合的影响。 结果显示，EBC 在三个研究点的平均余项为8~19 W m-2，OLS 斜率为0.83~0.96。EBC 在土壤湿润情况的站点要高于干旱站点。 土壤热通量的空间变异三站点平均为白天48 W m-2 (占同时间 Rn 的13%)，夜间15 W m-2 (34%)，平均29 W m-2 (24%)。通过8个工作站的测量，这个变异会造成9% (从0.93到1.01) 的 OLS 斜率差别。夜间的能量平衡不闭合可以由土壤热通量的空间变异解释。如果在本研究的的三个草原站点上忽略了土壤热通量，则会造成较大的余项 (峰值时110 W m-2) 产生，从而使 OLS 斜率增大23%。特别是通量板埋置在地面以下30 mm处时，上层的土壤热储部分占到全部土壤热通量的50%，这不仅影响到 EBC 的大小，更起到调节土壤热通量与“真实的波形” 相一致的作用。如果该部分热储被忽略掉，EBC 余项会增加60 W m-2，OLS 斜率也会变化 (减少) 9%。用大尺度多点测量与涡度塔附近的小尺度测定相比较，后者表现出稍高的闭合率，即 OLS 斜率增加4%。 相对于土壤热通量，净辐射的空间变异较小，三站点平均为白天17 W m-2 (5%)，夜间7 W m-2 (13%)，平均 12 W m-2 (5%)。可以引起3% (从0.88到0.91) 的 OLS 斜率差异。研究结果还表明，风速校正应该在 Q7.1 净辐射仪中应用，校正后的结果与 CNR1 的结果在白天有吻合较好，但在其它时段仍有较大差异，特别是在夜间，风速校正基本不起作用，使得两种仪器间差异达20 W m-2。比较表明，风速校正可以提高白天 Rn 的6%，仅降低夜间0.3%。因此，无论是用余项法还是用 OLS 线性回归法，在比较使用不同仪器的站点间的闭合状况时 (本研究的结果适用于草地 Q7.1 与 CNR1 间的比较)，可以用9：00-15：00 h 时段的数据进行比较，这样可以避免因使用不同仪器的差异所造成的影响。用该时段的数据进行比较，仪器间的差异余项法小于6 W m-2，OLS 法小于3%。 受可供能量空间变异影响，三个站点平均 EBC 的不确定性为白天66 W m-2 (19%)，夜间23 W m-2 (50%)，平均42 W m-2 (36%);或者改变 OLS 斜率11%。用最大值和最小值来衡量，EBC 最大不确定性，正午时在站点 I、II 和 III 中分别为81，114和91 W m-2。故在探讨能量平衡和能量平衡闭合问题时，必须充分考虑到这种不确定性，否则会产生偏差，或者得出错误结论。 研究还表明，即使考虑到白天所有可供能量的最大不确定性，仍然不能使能量平衡闭合。中午 (12：00 h)，站点 I，II 和 III 仍然有14±15，48±12和47±14 W m-2 的失衡不能够归因于可供能量的空间不确定性。因此，其它影响因素也需进行细致的探讨。 在两站点不同测量深度土壤热通量结果的差异性比较实验中，无论在站点 I 还是 III，均表现出一致的结论，即随通量板布置深度加深，其测量结果会越高，与浅层布置的相比，差别可高达150 W m-2。深层土壤热通量的计算仍是个难题，需进一步研究。 在不同植被结构对净辐射测定影响的实验中发现，随刈割强度增加，一天中大部分时间净辐射均减少。正午依次为413，395和388 W m-2。无论正午还是全天合计，重度刈割地点的净辐射均比不刈割对照处理少6%，而且，在整个生长季也少6%，约合40,000 W m-2。测量高度不同，不同处理间对测定结果影响不同：刈割处理中，由于下垫面较均一，结果相差不显著;而对照则表现出较高的差异，用两配对样本T检验表明差异达到极显著 (P<0.000，9:30-15:00 h data)。当使用不同新旧程度的 domes 时，对净辐射结果会产生明显的影响。新 domes 的测量结果白天明显高，晚上明显低，使用了11个月的旧 domes���峰值时，白天低估25 W m-2，晚上高估10 W m-2。说明该差异在进行能量平衡闭合计算时，不能忽略。而全用新的和全用旧的进行比较，晚上仅有2-3 W m-2差异。 考虑生态系统中非生物因子对干扰条件下生物多样性动态和功能的影响，有助于更精确地阐明生物多样性-稳定性功能的关系。为此，设计了一个单因子刈割实验——内蒙古地区一种广泛存在的土地利用方式。主要目的是研究不同强度刈割影响下，微气候变量特别是能量平衡各分量和群落结构的变化及二者的关系。连续4年刈割，占第一位的优势种明显由低矮半灌木冷蒿 (Artemisia frigida) 取代了高大丛生禾草克氏针茅 (Stipa kylovii)。重度刈割下，针茅的盖度、生物量和丛重，群落叶面积、绿色生物量、凋落物量和群落高度一致低于轻度刈割/不刈割处理。微气候由于群落特征的这些变化也呈规律性变化。与对照相比，重度刈割降低了生长季土壤含水量的47.5%，但中午和日均土壤表面温度分别增加了7.4和1.2 °C，并且增加地表下2 cm土壤温度日较差 (日最高与最低温度之差) 4.2 °C。刈割处理由于凋落物少、反射强而表现出较低的净辐射，但土壤热通量显著提高，表现为土层加热和冷却快。因此，重度刈割处理较对照降低了可供能量8%，约合52,000 W m-2 。不同刈割强度间来看，NPP 或 LAI 与土壤热通量和净辐射的比值 (G/Rn) 以及波文比 (H/LE) 间呈负相关。重度刈割处理感热通量显著提高，但潜热通量在处理间差异不显著，表明未刈割处理虽然冠层伸展大，但是并没有导致更大的水分亏缺。未刈割处理增加了抵抗物种改变的能力，而刈割处理在连续一年一割的第四年显著增加了物种数，可能与因刈割影响而导致的群落结构与微气候的改变有关。本研究表明，未刈割处理可以减轻高温干旱季节的高温和干旱胁迫，表现出对环境变化的高抵抗性。未刈割处理的凋落物层和较高的垂直结构所形成的遮荫，可以形成一个阻挡蒸发的篱笆，这是维持其水分的保证。因此，为了恢复退化草原生态系统功能，需要修复能导致微气候变化的植物群落结构，否则难以成功。 本研究立足于原创性的实验研究，在中国特有的自然草原生态系统上开展，结合不同温度梯度的三地区涡度相关系统进行了能量平衡闭合的移动比较实验，以及结合常用土地利用方式的定点能量平衡实验。在翔实的数据基础上，为涡度相关方法的陆地表面能量平衡失衡问题提供了解释。增加了对两个主要能量流——土壤热通量和净辐射空间变异规律的认识，研究对于能量平衡和湍流通量相关研究是有价值的。在三个代表性地区首次利用多个净辐射仪和土壤热通量板的结果与三个标准的涡度相关系统进行了比较，这类量化失衡原因的相关研究应受到高度重视并进一步拓展，以提高对能量失衡的认识，进而推进水热和碳循环研究向更深层次发展。

The long-term fate of permafrost peatlands under rapid climate warming

Permafrost peatlands contain globally important amounts of soil organic carbon, owing to cold conditions which suppress anaerobic decomposition. However, climate warming and permafrost thaw threaten the stability of this carbon store. The ultimate fate of permafrost peatlands and their carbon stores is unclear because of complex feedbacks between peat accumulation, hydrology and vegetation. Field monitoring campaigns only span the last few decades and therefore provide an incomplete picture of permafrost peatland response to recent rapid warming. Here we use a high-resolution palaeoecological approach to understand the longer-term response of peatlands in contrasting states of permafrost degradation to recent rapid warming. At all sites we identify a drying trend until the late-twentieth century; however, two sites subsequently experienced a rapid shift to wetter conditions as permafrost thawed in response to climatic warming, culminating in collapse of the peat domes. Commonalities between study sites lead us to propose a five-phase model for permafrost peatland response to climatic warming. This model suggests a shared ecohydrological trajectory towards a common end point: inundated Arctic fen. Although carbon accumulation is rapid in such sites, saturated soil conditions are likely to cause elevated methane emissions that have implications for climate-feedback mechanisms.

High-resolution seismic reflection investigation of gas accumulation and seepage in the tidal channels of the Ria of Aveiro barrier lagoon (Portugal)

O metano é um gás de estufa potente e uma importante fonte de energia. A importância global e impacto em zonas costeiras de acumulações e escape de gás metano são ainda pouco conhecidas. Esta tese investiga acumulações e escape de gás em canais de maré da Ria de Aveiro com dados de cinco campanhas de reflexão sísmica de alta resolução realizadas em 1986, 1999, 2002 e 2003. Estas incluem três campanhas de Chirp (RIAV99, RIAV02 e RIAV02A) e duas campanhas de Boomer (VOUGA86 e RIAV03). O processamento dos dados de navegação incluíram filtros de erros, correcções de sincronização de relógios de sistemas de aquisição de dados, ajuste de “layback” e estimativa da posição de “midpoint”. O processamento do sinal sísmico consistiu na correcção das amplitudes, remoção de ruído do tipo “burst”, correcções estáticas, correcção do “normal move-out”, filtragem passabanda, desconvolução da assinatura e migração Stolt F-K. A análise da regularidade do trajecto de navegação, dos desfasamentos entre horizontes e dos modelos de superfícies foi utilizada para controlo de qualidade, e permitiu a revisão e melhoria dos parâmetros de processamento. A heterogeneidade da cobertura sísmica, da qualidade do sinal, da penetração e da resolução, no seu conjunto constrangeram o uso dos dados a interpretações detalhadas, mas locais, de objectos geológicos da Ria. É apresentado um procedimento para determinar a escolha de escalas adequadas para modelar os objectos geológicos, baseado na resolução sísmica, erros de posicionamento conhecidos e desfasamentos médios entre horizontes. As evidências de acumulação e escape de gás na Ria de Aveiro incluem turbidez acústica, reflexões reforçadas, cortinas acústicas, domas, “pockmarks” e alinhamentos de “pockmarks” enterradas, horizontes perturbados e plumas acústicas na coluna de água (flares). A estratigrafia e a estrutura geológica controlam a distribuição e extensão das acumulações e escape de gás. Ainda assim, nestes sistemas de baixa profundidade de água, as variações da altura de maré têm um impacto significativo na detecção de gás com métodos acústicos, através de alterações nas amplitudes originais de reflexões reforçadas, turbidez acústica e branqueamento acústico em zonas com gás. Os padrões encontrados confirmam que o escape de bolhas de gás é desencadeado pela descida da maré. Há acumulações de gás em sedimentos Holocénicos e no substrato de argilas e calcários do Mesozóico. Evidências directas de escape de gás em sondagens em zonas vizinhas, mostraram gás essencialmente biogénico. A maioria do gás na área deve ter sido gerado em sedimentos lagunares Holocénicos. No entanto, a localização e geometria de estruturas de escape de fluidos em alguns canais de maré, seguem o padrão de fracturas do substrato Mesozóico, indicando uma possível fonte mais profunda de gás e que estas fracturas funcionam como condutas preferenciais de migração dos fluidos e exercem um controlo estrutural na ocorrência de gás na Ria.

Imaginative Mislocation: Hiroshima’s Genbaku Dome, Ground Zero of the Twentieth Century

The controversy that erupted in March over the publication of Charles Pellegrino’s account of the atomic bombings of Japan, The Last Train from Hiroshima, suggests that the historical legacy of the first military use of atomic weaponry is still fiercely contested in the USA. The spat is merely the latest conflict in a long war over the significance of the bombings, which resurfaces with each new book, exhibition or programme that appears. When the ruins of the Genbaku (Atomic Bomb) Dome – formerly the Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition Hall – were nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995, the United States objected on the basis of concerns over a ‘lack of historical perspective’, arguing that the ‘events antecedent to the United States’ use of atomic weapons to end World War II are key to understanding the tragedy of Hiroshima’. The appeal to historical facts by both US diplomats and, more recently, military veterans contrasts with the dehistoricized emphasis of other Western cultural responses to Hiroshima. But what both kinds of reception share is an occlusion of the prehistory of capitalist liberalism, colonialism and imperialism which produces Japanese modernity,a prehistory which is itself built into the Genbaku Dome’s concrete structure, and an afterlife of nuclear pacification which produces the global context of terrorism as the continuation of war by other means.

Modeling short-range ballistic missile defense and Israel's Iron Dome system

This paper develops a model of short-range ballistic missile defense and uses it to study the performance of Israel’s Iron Dome system. The deterministic base model allows for inaccurate missiles, unsuccessful interceptions, and civil defense. Model enhancements consider the trade-offs in attacking the interception system, the difficulties faced by militants in assembling large salvos, and the effects of imperfect missile classification by the defender. A stochastic model is also developed. Analysis shows that system performance can be highly sensitive to the missile salvo size, and that systems with higher interception rates are more “fragile” when overloaded. The model is calibrated using publically available data about Iron Dome’s use during Operation Pillar of Defense in November 2012. If the systems performed as claimed, they saved Israel an estimated 1778 casualties and $80 million in property damage, and thereby made preemptive strikes on Gaza about 8 times less valuable to Israel. Gaza militants could have inflicted far more damage by grouping their rockets into large salvos, but this may have been difficult given Israel’s suppression efforts. Counter-battery fire by the militants is unlikely to be worthwhile unless they can obtain much more accurate missiles.

Acoustic radiation and scattering from cylindrical bodies and analysis of transducer arrays

New mathematical methods to analytically investigate linear acoustic radiation and scattering from cylindrical bodies and transducer arrays are presented. Three problems of interest involving cylinders in an infinite fluid are studied. In all the three problems, the Helmholtz equation is used to model propagation through the fluid and the beam patterns of arrays of transducers are studied. In the first problem, a method is presented to determine the omni-directional and directional far-field pressures radiated by a cylindrical transducer array in an infinite rigid cylindrical baffle. The solution to the Helmholtz equation and the displacement continuity condition at the interface between the array and the surrounding water are used to determine the pressure. The displacement of the surface of each transducer is in the direction of the normal to the array and is assumed to be uniform. Expressions are derived for the pressure radiated by a sector of the array vibrating in-phase, the entire array vibrating in-phase, and a sector of the array phase-shaded to simulate radiation from a rectangular piston. It is shown that the uniform displacement required for generating a source level of 220 dB ref. μPa @ 1m that is omni directional in the azimuthal plane is in the order of 1 micron for typical arrays. Numerical results are presented to show that there is only a small difference between the on-axis pressures radiated by phased cylindrical arrays and planar arrays. The problem is of interest because cylindrical arrays of projectors are often used to search for underwater objects. In the second problem, the errors, when using data-independent, classical, energy and split beam correlation methods, in finding the direction of arrival (DOA) of a plane acoustic wave, caused by the presence of a solid circular elastic cylindrical stiffener near a linear array of hydrophones, are investigated. Scattering from the effectively infinite cylinder is modeled using the exact axisymmetric equations of motion and the total pressures at the hydrophone locations are computed. The effect of the radius of the cylinder, a, the distance between the cylinder and the array, b, the number of hydrophones in the array, 2H, and the angle of incidence of the wave, α, on the error in finding the DOA are illustrated using numerical results. For an array that is about 30 times the wavelength and for small angles of incidence (α<10), the error in finding the DOA using the energy method is less than that using the split beam correlation method with beam steered to α; and in some cases, the error increases when b increases; and the errors in finding the DOA using the energy method and the split beam correlation method with beam steered to α vary approximately as a7 / 4 . The problem is of interest because elastic stiffeners – in nearly acoustically transparent sonar domes that are used to protect arrays of transducers – scatter waves that are incident on it and cause an error in the estimated direction of arrival of the wave. In the third problem, a high-frequency ray-acoustics method is presented and used to determine the interior pressure field when a plane wave is normally incident on a fluid cylinder embedded in another infinite fluid. The pressure field is determined by using geometrical and physical acoustics. The interior pressure is expressed as the sum of the pressures due to all rays that pass through a point. Numerical results are presented for ka = 20 to 100 where k is the acoustic wavenumber of the exterior fluid and a is the radius of the cylinder. The results are in good agreement with those obtained using field theory. The directional responses, to the plane wave, of sectors of a circular array of uniformly distributed hydrophones in the embedded cylinder are then computed. The sectors are used to simulate linear arrays with uniformly distributed normals by using delays. The directional responses are compared with the output from an array in an infinite homogenous fluid. These outputs are of interest as they are used to determine the direction of arrival of the plane wave. Numerical results are presented for a circular array with 32 hydrophones and 12 hydrophones in each sector. The problem is of interest because arrays of hydrophones are housed inside sonar domes and acoustic plane waves from distant sources are scattered by the dome filled with fresh water and cause deterioration in the performance of the array.

The Effect of SIFT Features as Content Descriptors in the Context of Automatic Writer Identification in Malayalam Language

The span of writer identification extends to broad domes like digital rights administration, forensic expert decisionmaking systems, and document analysis systems and so on. As the success rate of a writer identification scheme is highly dependent on the features extracted from the documents, the phase of feature extraction and therefore selection is highly significant for writer identification schemes. In this paper, the writer identification in Malayalam language is sought for by utilizing feature extraction technique such as Scale Invariant Features Transform (SIFT).The schemes are tested on a test bed of 280 writers and performance evaluated

Clastic and core lava components of a silicic lava dome

The formation of a lava dome involves fractionation of the lava into core and clastic components. We show that for three separate, successive andesitic lava domes that grew at Soufrière Hills volcano, Montserrat, between 1999 and 2007, the volumetric proportion of the lava converted to talus or pyroclastic flow deposits was 50%–90% of the lava extruded. Currently, only 8% of the total magma extruded during the 1995–2007 eruption remains as core lava. The equivalent representation in the geological record will probably be even lower. Most of the lava extruded at the surface flowed no further than 150–300 m from the vent before disaggregation, resulting in a lava core whose shape tends to a cylinder. Moderate to high extrusion rates at the Soufrière Hills domes may have contributed to the large clastic fraction observed. Creating talus dissipates much of the energy that would otherwise be stored in the core lava of domes. The extreme hazards from large pyroclastic flows and blasts posed by wholesale collapse of a lava dome depend largely on the size of the lava core, and hence on the aggregate history of the partitioning process, not on the size of the dome.

Modelling the lava dome extruded at Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat, August 2005–May 2006. Part I: Dome shape and internal structure

Lava domes comprise core, carapace, and clastic talus components. They can grow endogenously by inflation of a core and/or exogenously with the extrusion of shear bounded lobes and whaleback lobes at the surface. Internal structure is paramount in determining the extent to which lava dome growth evolves stably, or conversely the propensity for collapse. The more core lava that exists within a dome, in both relative and absolute terms, the more explosive energy is available, both for large pyroclastic flows following collapse and in particular for lateral blast events following very rapid removal of lateral support to the dome. Knowledge of the location of the core lava within the dome is also relevant for hazard assessment purposes. A spreading toe, or lobe of core lava, over a talus substrate may be both relatively unstable and likely to accelerate to more violent activity during the early phases of a retrogressive collapse. Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat has been erupting since 1995 and has produced numerous lava domes that have undergone repeated collapse events. We consider one continuous dome growth period, from August 2005 to May 2006 that resulted in a dome collapse event on 20th May 2006. The collapse event lasted 3 h, removing the whole dome plus dome remnants from a previous growth period in an unusually violent and rapid collapse event. We use an axisymmetrical computational Finite Element Method model for the growth and evolution of a lava dome. Our model comprises evolving core, carapace and talus components based on axisymmetrical endogenous dome growth, which permits us to model the interface between talus and core. Despite explicitly only modelling axisymmetrical endogenous dome growth our core–talus model simulates many of the observed growth characteristics of the 2005–2006 SHV lava dome well. Further, it is possible for our simulations to replicate large-scale exogenous characteristics when a considerable volume of talus has accumulated around the lower flanks of the dome. Model results suggest that dome core can override talus within a growing dome, potentially generating a region of significant weakness and a potential locus for collapse initiation.

Numerical simulation of the Filchner overflow

The plume of Ice Shelf Water (ISW) flowing into the Weddell Sea over the Filchner sill contributes to the formation of Antarctic Bottom Water. The Filchner overflow is simulated using a hydrostatic, primitive equation three-dimensional ocean model with a 0.5–2 Sv ISW influx above the Filchner sill. The best fit to mooring temperature observations is found with influxes of 0.5 and 1 Sv, below a previous estimate of 1.6 ± 0.5 Sv based on sparse mooring velocities. The plume first moves north over the continental shelf, and then turns west, along slope of the continental shelf break where it breaks up into subplumes and domes, some of which then move downslope. Other subplumes run into the eastern submarine ridge and propagate along the ridge downslope in a chaotic manner. The next, western ridge is crossed by the plume through several paths. Despite a number of discrepancies with observational data, the model reproduces many attributes of the flow. In particular, we argue that the temporal variability shown by the observations can largely be attributed to the unstable structure of the flow, where the temperature fluctuations are determined by the motion of the domes past the moorings. Our sensitivity studies show that while thermobaricity plays a role, its effect is small for the flows considered. Smoothing the ridges out demonstrate that their presence strongly affects the plume shape around the ridges. An increase in the bottom drag or viscosity leads to slowing down, and hence thickening and widening of the plume

Topographic and thermal mapping of volcanic terrain using AVTIS ground-based 94-GHz dual-mode radar/radiometric imager

The All-Weather Volcano Topography Imaging Sensor remote sensing instrument is a custom-built millimeter-wave (MMW) sensor that has been developed as a practical field tool for remote sensing of volcanic terrain at active lava domes. The portable instrument combines active and passive MMW measurements to record topographic and thermal data in almost all weather conditions from ground-based survey points. We describe how the instrument is deployed in the field, the quality of the primary ranging and radiometric measurements, and the postprocessing techniques used to derive the geophysical products of the target terrain, surface temperature, and reflectivity. By comparison of changing topography, we estimate the volume change and the lava extrusion rate. Validation of the MMW radiometry is also presented by quantitative comparison with coincident infrared thermal imagery.

Coupled subdaily and multiweek cycles during the lava dome erupt of Soufriere Hills Volcano, Montserrat

Observations of volcanoes extruding andesitic lava to produce lava domes often reveal cyclic behaviour. At Soufriere Hills Volcano, Montserrat, cycles with sub-daily and multi-week periods have been recognised on many occasions. These two types of cycle have been modelled separately as stick-slip magma flow at the junction between a dyke and an overlying cylindrical conduit (Costa et al. 2012), and as the filling and discharge of magma through the elastic-walled dyke (Costa et al., 2007a) respectively. Here, we couple these two models to simulate the behaviour over a period of well-observed multi-week cycles, with accompanying sub-daily cycles, from 13 May to 21 September 1997. The coupled model captures well the asymmetrical first-order behaviour: the first 40% of the multi-week cycle consists of high rates of lava extrusion during short period/high amplitude sub-daily cycles as the dyke reservoir discharges itself. The remainder of the cycle involves increasing pressurization as more magma is stored, and extrusion rate falls, followed by a gradual increase in the period of the sub-daily cycles.

Sensitivity of OMI SO2 measurements to variable eruptive behaviour at Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat

Since 2004, the satellite-borne Ozone Mapping Instrument (OMI) has observed sulphur dioxide (SO2) plumes during both quiescence and effusive eruptive activity at Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat. On average, OMI detected a SO2 plume 4-6 times more frequently during effusive periods than during quiescence in the 2008-2010 period. The increased ability of OMI to detect SO2 during eruptive periods is mainly due to an increase in plume altitude rather than a higher SO2 emission rate. Three styles of eruptive activity cause thermal lofting of gases (Vulcanian explosions; pyroclastic flows; a hot lava dome) and the resultant plume altitudes are estimated from observations and models. Most lofting plumes from Soufrière Hills are derived from hot domes and pyroclastic flows. Although Vulcanian explosions produced the largest plumes, some produced only negligible SO2 signals detected by OMI. OMI is most valuable for monitoring purposes at this volcano during periods of lava dome growth and during explosive activity.