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Shallow Hydrothermal Pressurization before the 2010 Eruption of Mount Sinabung Volcano, Indonesia, Observed by use of ALOS Satellite Radar Interferometry

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Abstract

Ground deformation in volcanic regions can be a precursor to resumption of activity. Volcanic eruptions are typically brief periods of activity punctuating very long inter-eruptive periods. This makes hazard evaluation a difficult task for volcanoes with low-recurrence eruptive activity, which often are poorly monitored. As a result, analysis of inter-eruptive periods by use of remote sensing techniques can provide important information on precursory activity and improve volcano hazard assessment. In August–September 2010 Mt Sinabung, Indonesia, reawakened after at least 400 years of dormancy. The ground deformation before this eruption was investigated by use of differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar data obtained from Japanese ALOS-PALSAR radar imagery between 05 January 2007 and 31 August 2010. Results from InSAR time series processing detected significant ground deformation (subsidence) at several locations on the Karo plateau, and uplift in the summit area of Mt Sinabung. The persistent scatterers density obtained by use of ALOS data is sufficient to enable extraction of temporal and spatial patterns of the deformation. The surface deformation at the summit can be modeled by using a spherical point-source model. Source data are consistent with a very shallow (hydrothermal) reservoir, with a linear increase in overpressure before the 2010 Mt Sinabung eruption. Hydrothermal origin is consistent with seismicity, tiltmeters, and analysis of ash products collected during and after the 2010 eruption. These results support the potential of L-band interferometry for hazard assessment in poorly monitored and highly vegetated volcanic areas and also indicate that hazard assessment for Indonesian volcanoes could potentially be improved by identification of precursory (inter-eruptive) uplift periods.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) for providing Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) InSAR data. The ALOS-PALSAR data are copyright of the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) and the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) and were made available by the US Government Research Consortium (USGRC) and the Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF). SRTM digital elevation data are provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), NASA. The ROI_PAC software package was developed by JPL. Doris interferometry software (DORIS) was developed by DEOS, Delft University of Technology. We used Generic Mapping Tools (GMT) public domain software to create some figures (Wessel and Smith 1998). The authors would like to thank all these organizations and developers. This research was partially supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the DALF-Canadian Commonwealth Scholarship Program (CCSP). The work of Pablo J. González was supported by a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship. KFT is supported by an NSERC Discovery Grant.

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  1. Pablo J. González

    Present address: Institute of Geophysics and Tectonics, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A 5B7, Canada

    Pablo J. González & Kristy F. Tiampo

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, 400076, India

    Keshav D. Singh

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Correspondence to Pablo J. González.

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González, P.J., Singh, K.D. & Tiampo, K.F. Shallow Hydrothermal Pressurization before the 2010 Eruption of Mount Sinabung Volcano, Indonesia, Observed by use of ALOS Satellite Radar Interferometry. Pure Appl. Geophys. 172, 3229–3245 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-014-0915-7

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