The role of large bubbles detected from acoustic measurements on the dynamics of Erta 'Ale lava lake (Ethiopia)

• Published in: Earth and Planetary Science Letters
• Main Authors: Bouche, E., Vergniolle, S., Staudacher, T., Nercessian, A., Delmont, J.-C., Frogneux, M., Cartault, F., Le Pichon, A.
• Other Authors: Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Université de La Réunion (UR)-Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPG Paris)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Biologie et écologie tropicale et méditerranéenne 2007-2010 (BETM), Université de Perpignan Via Domitia (UPVD)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire de Détection et de Géophysique (CEA) (LDG), DAM Île-de-France (DAM/DIF), Direction des Applications Militaires (DAM), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Direction des Applications Militaires (DAM), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2010
• Subjects: eruption dynamics; volcano acoustics; bubbles; lava lake; Erta 'Ale; [SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences; antartic*
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-00537831; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2010.03.020

International audience The activity at the surface of the lava lake on Erta 'Ale volcano (Ethiopia) shows that large bubbles are regularly breaking at a fixed position on the lava lake. This is also where the small lava fountains are sometimes produced. Since this location is likely to be directly above the volcanic conduit feeding the lava lake, we have done continuous measurements between March 22 and 26, 2003 to understand the degassing of a volcano in permanent activity. The bubble size has been first estimated from videos, which once combined with the acoustic pressure, can constrain the source of the sound. The gas volume and overpressure stayed roughly constant, between 36–700 m3 and 4 × 103–1.8 × 104 Pa, respectively. Simultaneous thermal measurements showed regular peaks, which occurred when the crust was broken by a large bubble, hence gave a direct indication on the typical return time between the bubbles (1 h). These spherical cap bubbles had a high Reynolds number, 4600–20000, therefore a wake, periodically unstable, formed and detached from the bubble bottom. The bubbly wake, if the detachment occurs close to the surface, can explain the duration of lava fountains, measured on the videos. The periodic arrival of bubbly wakes, which mostly detach from the driving spherical cap within the lava lake, could explain the absence of cooling at Erta 'Ale, Erebus (Antartica), Villarica (Chile) and Nyiragongo (Democratic Republic of Congo) without invoking a convective downflow of magma in the conduit, as previously done.