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Deploying a large nodal array for high-resolution imaging and seismicity analysis of Kīlauea Volcanic System

Federica Lanza1 , Alicia Rohnacher1, Ninfa Bennington2, Helen Janiszweski3, and Stefan Wiemer1

  • Affiliations:  1Swiss Seismological Service, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland; 2U.S. Geological Survey, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, Hawai'i, USA; 3University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Hawai'i, USA 

  • Presentation type: Poster

  • Presentation time: Friday 16:30 - 18:00, Room Poster Hall

  • Poster Board Number: 4

  • Programme No: 1.5.11

  • Theme 1 > Session 5

Abstract

In summer 2024, 340 three-component SmartSolo IGU-16 3C 5Hz nodal seismometers were deployed at 116 sites in the East Rift Zone (ERZ) of Kīlauea volcano, on the Island of Hawaiʻi. To address the nodes' battery life limitation of approximately 30 days, three instruments were co-located at each site, allowing for three months of continuous recording. The array is designed to push developments in high-resolution mantle-to-crust seismic imaging, temporal monitoring, seismicity characterization, and fault loading response caused by ascending magma in the ERZ. As the current model of Kīlauea's structure has been altered by the 2018 and 2020 eruptions, key questions pertaining to Kīlauea's new eruptive phase and transport pathways remain still unanswered. During the array's recording period, three magma intrusions accompanied by swarm seismicity and deformation were observed, culminating in an eruption near the Nāpau Crater in the Middle East Rift Zone in September 2024. These events provide compelling evidence that magma has begun re-entering the ERZ after years of absence. Here we provide an overview of the deployment, evaluate the quality of the collected data, and explore the dataset's potential for seismic imaging. We also show first results, including the development of an initial seismicity catalog using state-of-the-art machine learning techniques, to be used in future velocity inversion analyses. The 2-D nodal array offers new, independent constraints that complement previous geophysical investigations, such as magnetotelluric surveys conducted in the same region. Together, these datasets will provide a more comprehensive, system-wide understanding of Kīlauea's magmatic system and its evolving structure.