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SAN FRANCISCO — High-definition video has given scientists an unprecedented view of the forces driving volcanic eruptions.
Stepping through video frame-by-frame and correlating it with seismic data, University of North Carolina seismologist Jonathan Lees and his colleagues noticed that they could actually see the way Guatemala’s Mt. Santiaguito dome was lifting up and out. These movements, too fast to be seen by the naked eye, became clear in the recording.
"The dome is uplifting prior to the plume coming out," said Lees. "We never knew this until we did this experiment."
The nature of volcanic eruptions makes them very hard to study, and scientists have had to rely primarily on indirect measurements, such as seismic recordings. The new technique could allow scientists to better understand eruptions by linking seismograph signals with what can be seen on video.
Lees presented the work at this week’s American Geophysical Union annual meeting. The main thrust of the work is contained in the still image at top. The ball-head pins are vectors showing the speed and direction at which particles on the volcano’s dome are being blasted outwards. The unprecedented detail of this work — and its ability to explain how a certain type of eruption-associated earthquake is created — landed the group in the journal Nature last month.
Now, in just two weeks, Lees and his team are heading back to Guatemala to do similar experiments with more cameras and instrumentation.
Image and Video: Jonathan Lees
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