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Imaging volcanoes during unrest: Nodal Ambient Noise Tomography of a transient plumbing system, Vulcano, Italy.

Douglas Stumpp 1, Iván Cabrera-Pérez1, Geneviève Savard1, Tullio Ricci2, Salvatore Alparone3, Andrea Ursino3, Mimmo Palano3, Federica Sparacino3, Francisco Muñoz Burbano1, Célia Barat1, María-Paz Reyes Hardy1, Joël Ruch1, Costanza Bonadonna1, and Matteo Lupi1

  • Affiliations: 1Department of Earth Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; 2Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Roma, Italy; 3Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia - Osservatorio Etneo - Sezione di Catania, Italy

  • Presentation type: Poster

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

  • Poster Board Number: 144

  • Programme No: 2.1.54

  • Theme 2 > Session 1

Abstract

Volcanic risks increase exponentially during periods of unrest, with challenges in distinguishing between magmatic intrusions and hydrothermal activity as primary drivers of volcanic reawakening. This uncertainty has implications for risk mitigation strategies, affecting civil protection decisions and evacuation plans. In late 2021, Vulcano, Italy, entered into a phase of unrest featuring unprecedented very long period (VLP) seismic events, usually associated with magma and gas flowing through shallow volcanic conduits. Current causative models explaining such events remain non-unique, advocating either magmatic or hydrothermal activity. To investigate the source of deformation, we use the Nodal Ambient Noise Tomography (NANT) method to generate high-resolution shear-wave velocity (Vs) images that help discriminating the distribution of magmatic and hydrothermal drivers of unrest. We use continuous seismic data from a dense local network of 196 three-component short-period geophones (250 Hz sampling rate) deployed for one month (October-November 2021) during Vulcano's unrest. The inverted 3-D Vs model indicates structures relating to the volcanic edifice and point out the geometries characterising the shallow plumbing system of Vulcano. The implementation of NANT during unrest offers promising capabilities to unravel the velocity structure of dynamic and deforming volcanic regions. This methodology, if efficiently and rapidly processed and explored towards (near) real-time monitoring applications, has the potential to lead to the development of dynamic and adaptive evacuation plans. These advances would contribute to more effective and source-dependent risk mitigation schemes in volcanic regions that may ultimately save lives.