(Table 2) Picked maximum velocities from 3 radars (RAY, SHK, and SUM), showing 10 explosions at Erebus volcano, Antarctica, and their respective directivity vectors

• Main Authors: Gerst, Alexander, Hort, M, Kyle, Philip R, Vöge, Malte
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2008
• Subjects: Azimuth; DATE/TIME; Doppler radar; frequency modulated continuous wave; Elevation of event; Erebus volcano; Antarctica; Event label; FMCWDR; Inclination; Latitude of event; Longitude of event; Priority Programme 1158 Antarctic Research with Comparable Investigations in Arctic Sea Ice Areas; RAY_radar; SHK_radar; SPP1158; Standard deviation; SUM_radar; Velocity; Velocity magnitude; Antarc*; Antarctic; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.847914; https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.847914

We used a novel system of three continuous wave Doppler radars to successfully record the directivity of i) Strombolian explosions from the active lava lake of Erebus volcano, Antarctica, ii) eruptions at Stromboli volcano, Italy, and iii) a man-made explosion in a quarry. Erebus volcano contains a convecting phonolite lava lake, presumably connected to a magma chamber at depth. It is one of the few open vent volcanoes that allow a direct observation of source processes during explosions. Its lava lake is the source of frequent violent Strombolian explosions, caused by large gas bubbles bursting at the lake surface. The exact mechanism of these bubble bursts is unclear, as is the mechanism of the creation of the infrasound signal accompanying the explosions. We use the Doppler radar data to calculate the directivity of Strombolian eruptions at Erebus. This allows us to derive information about the expected type of infrasound source pattern (i.e. the role of a dipole in addition to the monopole signature) and the physical structure of the volcano. We recorded 10 large explosions simultaneously with three radars, enabling us to calculate time series of 3D directivity vectors (i.e. effectively 4D), which describe the direction of preferred expansion of the gas bubble during an explosion. Such directivity information allows a comparison to dipole infrasound radiation patterns recorded during similar explosions only a few weeks later. Video observations of explosions support our interpretation of the measurements. We conclude that at Erebus, the directivity of explosions is mainly controlled by random processes. Since the geometry of the uppermost conduit is assumed to have a large effect on the directivity of explosions, the results suggest a largely symmetrical uppermost conduit with a vertical axis of symmetry. For infrasound recordings, a significant dipole signature can be expected in addition to the predominant monopole signature.