Research Projects
Colima Volcano, Mexico, 2006
I volunteered for 5 months at the Centre for Exchange and Research in Volcanology at the Universidad de Colima, as part of the EHaz exchange
program. As a volunteer, I was exposed to a variety of
geophysical and
geochemical field techniques, including thermal imaging and SO2
measurements with COSPEC and mini-DOAS. We would typically go into
the field several times a week, making regular trips to Volcan de
Nevado (an older, inactive peak to the north of Volcan de Fuego, which
is the currently active vent at Colima), the various barrancas
aproning Volcan de Fuego, and El Playon, an old caldera floor near
the
active vent.
To fulfill the research component of the MTU’s EHaz exchange with the Universidad de Colima, I chose to carry out a project estimating
lava
effusion rates for a period of effusive activity in late 2004. Lava
effusion rates were derived from thermal measurements from both thermal
camera imagery and MODIS
satellite imagery, and compared to dimensionally derived effusion rates
using a high-resolution DEM. The results of the project, entitled Thermal infrared monitoring of lava effusion at Volcan de Colima, Mexico, were presented
at the America Geophysical Union conference in the fall of 2006.
One of the highlights of my Colima experience was 3 weeks of fieldwork
on La Isla de Socorro. Socorro is a gorgeous volcanic island ~ 600 km
off the coast of Mexico in the Pacific, ~ 450km south of Baja
California. Socorro is the southernmost island in
the Revillagigedo Archipeligo. The island is massive predominately
submarine
basaltic shield volcano capped by a largely buried, 4.5 x 3.8-km-wide
summit caldera, topped off with a large tephra cone and lava dome
complex, Cerro
Evermann, which forms the 1050-m-high summit of the volcano
(Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program volcano summary information:
http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1401-021).
Aside from the Mexican Navy, which has a base on Socorro, and
various researchers visiting the island to study the geology
or abundant wildlife, the island is otherwise uninhabited. Remnant
heat fuels intense and extensive fumarolic activity on the dome
just below the summit, which was the subject of our field studies.
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Santa Ana Volcano, El Salvador, 2007-2008
I am designing and carrying out an
MSc project entitled Eruption precursors
to the 2005 eruption of Santa Ana volcano, El Salvador.
I use thermal remote sensing and crater lake water chemistry to
investigate
physical and chemical indicators of magmatic activity at Santa Ana
volcano in
El Salvador. The thermal remote sensing tools I use are a FLIR thermal
camera and ASTER (see image below), LANDSAT, and MODIS satellite
imagery. The project calls for integration of
fieldwork, image
processing, and geochemical modeling.
Santa Ana is the most active volcano in El Salvador with a high
surrounding population density. My hope is that this work will benefit Salvadoran
scientists and citizens because the crater lake in the active summit of Santa
Ana presents the threat of phreatomagmatic
eruptions and hot mudflows, in addition to pyroclastic flows and ash fallout.
My
MSc research on Santa Ana volcano requires a fieldwork component in El Salvador
to ground truth satellite data, and thus led me to establish collaborations
with volcanologists at Servicio Nacional de Estudios Territoriales (SNET) and Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra, Universidad de El Salvador. Check out SNET's volcano monitoring website
for more information about Santa Ana, including monthly monitoring
reports, near- real-time seismicity, SO2, and webcam footage.
