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Abstract: A vigorously degassing lava lake appeared inside the Santiago pit crater of Masaya volcano (Nicaragua) in December 2015, after years of degassing with no (or minor) incandescence. Here we present an unprecedented‐long (3 years) and continuous volcanic gas record that instrumentally characterizes the (re)activation of the lava lake. Our results show that, before appearance of the lake, the volcanic gas plume composition became unusually CO2 rich, as testified by high CO2/SO2 ratios (mean: 12.2 ± 6.3) and low H2O/CO2 ratios (mean: 2.3 ± 1.3). The volcanic CO2 flux also peaked in November 2015 (mean: 81.3 ± 40.6 kg/s; maximum: 247 kg/s). Using results of magma degassing models and budgets, we interpret this elevated CO2 degassing as sourced by degassing of a volatile‐rich fast‐overturning (3.6–5.2 m3 s−1) magma, supplying CO2‐rich gas bubbles from minimum equivalent depths of 0.36–1.4 km. We propose this elevated gas bubble supply destabilized the shallow (<1 km) Masaya magma reservoir, leading to upward migration of vesicular (buoyant) resident magma, and ultimately to (re)formation of the lava lake. At onset of lava lake activity on 11 December 2015 (constrained by satellite‐based MODIS thermal observations), the gas emissions transitioned to more SO2‐rich composition, and the SO2 flux increased by a factor ∼40% (11.4 ± 5.2 kg/s) relative to background degassing (8.0 kg/s), confirming faster than normal (4.4 versus ∼3 m3 s−1) shallow magma convection. Based on thermal energy records, we estimate that only ∼0.8 of the 4.4 m3 s−1 of magma actually reached the surface to manifest into a convecting lava lake, suggesting inefficient transport of magma in the near‐surface plumbing system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air permeability is a major physical factor affecting the advective transport of a gas through the soil, and variations in this parameter can strongly influence the emission of endogenous gases from the soil to the atmosphere. In this paper, we illustrated a new and simple method for measuring in situ air permeability based on the measurement of air pressure inside a special probe inserted into the soil. The method was designed and developed primarily to study the relationship between air permeability and the soil CO2 flux in an active volcanic area. The method was used for continuous monitoring of the air permeability at two different locations on the island of Vulcano. At the same time, the values of the atmospheric pressure, temperature, rain, and volumetric water content of the soil were also acquired to investigate their effect on soil air permeability and soil CO2 flux. The results showed that during the monitoring period, soil air permeability exhibited minor variations at each site, while larger variations in the soil CO2 flux were recorded. The effect of soil air permeability on soil CO2 flux was negligible at both sites, whereas a strong dependence of soil CO2 flux on volumetric water content and on atmospheric pressure was found. Furthermore, the variation in air permeability recorded at both sites was much lower than that predicted using some well-known predictive models, showing that the relationship among different soil transport parameters is more complex in real field conditions than would be expected by semiempirical models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]