The analysis of seismic waves caused around the lake lakes of certain volcanoes could make it possible to anticipate violent eruptions.
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The Kilauea volcano, in the south-east of the island of Hawaii, is one of the most active on earth. Sweet eruptions are frequent. But it remains difficult to predict explosive eruptions. Josh Crozier and Leif Karlstrom, from the Earth Sciences Department of the University of Oregon, offer a track: analyze the “music” of the seismic waves recorded around its lava lakes. In an article published in the journal Science Advances on 1 er June, the researchers describe how these vibrations reflect the properties of the magma likely to cause an explosion. “We hope this will inspire more work in order to understand what these signals mean for Kilauea,” said Josh Crozier. Such a method should also work for many volcanoes that have a lava lake, estimate the researchers.