Publications

Delgado, Francisco; Pritchard, Matthew; Lohman, Rowena; Antonio Naranjo, Jose (2014). The 2011 Hudson volcano eruption (Southern Andes, Chile): Pre-eruptive inflation and hotspots observed with InSAR and thermal imagery. BULLETIN OF VOLCANOLOGY, 76(5), 815.

Abstract
Hudson is one of the most active volcanoes in the Southern Andes-it had one of the largest eruptions of the 20th century in 1991 (VEI= 5) and smaller eruptions in 1971 (VEI= 3), maybe 1973, and 2011 (VEI of 1-2). We use satellite-based interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) and thermal imagery to characterize the activity of Hudson between 2004 and 2011 and during the 2011 eruption. InSAR data show that the volcano inflated between 2004 and 2010 with a maximum change rate of between 2 and 3 cm/ yr -about half of the deformation rate observed during a previous deformation episode from 1993-1999. Inversion for an inflating point source suggests magma accumulation beneath the SW part of the caldera at an average depth of 10 km. This inferred source is deeper than both the sources estimated for the magma chamber of the 1991 eruption (from petrology) and for the 1993-1999 deformation event. Also, the deformation from 2004-2010 is centered at a slightly different location and has a smaller volume change than that between 1993-1999- further indicating that there is either a large magma reservoir or several separate ones. While the deformation center is a few km from the eruption location near the caldera rim, the two are possibly linked since the predicted static Coloumb stress changes due to the inferred inflation source would encourage unclamping on potential faults in the caldera rim. We also analize nighttime satellite thermal images from MODIS and ASTER. While MODIS did not show any unambiguous evidence for hot spots, ASTER thermal imagery show that at least four months before the eruption there were locations with temperatures 7-8 degrees K above background. Lahars observed by helicopter overflights on 4 March 2011 and October 2011 suggest that the hotspots may have been caused by lakes or subglacial melting. There is no InSAR data available for the months immediately preceding the eruption, but the ASTER thermal imagery results may indicate an increase in geothermal activity that could have been used to forecast the eruption.

DOI:
10.1007/s00445-014-0815-9

ISSN:
0258-8900; 1432-0819