Vossen Caron E J, Cimarelli Corrado, D'Auria Luca, Cigala Valeria, Kueppers Ulrich, Barrancos José, Bennett Alec J
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.
Instituto Volcanológico de Canarias (INVOLCAN), 38320 La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands Spain.
Commun Earth Environ. 2024;5(1):367. doi: 10.1038/s43247-024-01520-6. Epub 2024 Jul 9.
Volcanic lightning detection has proven useful to volcano monitoring by providing information on eruption onset, source parameters, and ash cloud directions. However, little is known about the influence of changing eruptive styles on the generation of charge and electrical discharges inside the eruption column. The 2021 Tajogaite eruption (La Palma, Canary Islands) provided the rare opportunity to monitor variations in electrical activity continuously over several weeks using an electrostatic lightning detector. Here we show that throughout the eruption, silicate particle charging is the main electrification mechanism. Moreover, we find that the type of electrical activity is closely linked to the explosive eruption style. Fluctuations in the electrical discharge rates are likely controlled by variations in the mass eruption rate and/or changes in the eruption style. These findings hold promise for obtaining near real-time information on the dynamic evolution of explosive volcanic activity through electrostatic monitoring in the future.
火山闪电探测已被证明对火山监测有用,它能提供有关火山喷发开始、源参数和火山灰云方向的信息。然而,对于喷发方式的变化对喷发柱内电荷产生和放电的影响,我们知之甚少。2021年塔约加特火山喷发(加那利群岛拉帕尔马岛)提供了一个难得的机会,可使用静电闪电探测器连续数周监测电活动的变化。在此我们表明,在整个喷发过程中,硅酸盐颗粒充电是主要的起电机制。此外,我们发现电活动的类型与爆发式喷发方式密切相关。放电率的波动可能受喷发质量喷发率的变化和/或喷发方式的改变控制。这些发现有望在未来通过静电监测获取有关爆炸性火山活动动态演变的近实时信息。