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Abstract  Ground-based thermal infrared surveys can contribute to complete heat budget inventories for fumarole fields. However, variations in atmospheric conditions, plume condensation and mixed-pixel effects can complicate vent area and temperature measurements. Analysis of vent temperature frequency distributions can be used, however, to characterise and quantify thermal regions within a field. We examine this using four thermal infrared thermometer and thermal image surveys of the Vulcano Fossa fumarole field (Italy) during June 2004 and July 2005. These surveys show that regions occupied by low temperature vents are characterised by distributions that are tightly clustered around the mean (i.e., the standard deviation is low), highly peaked (positive kurtosis) and skewed in the low temperature direction (negative skewness). This population is associated with wet fumaroles, where boiling controls maximum temperature to cause a narrow distribution with a mode at 90–100°C. In contrast, high temperature vent regions have distributions that are widely spread about the mean (i.e., the standard deviation is high), relatively flat (negative kurtosis) and skewed in the high temperature direction (positive skewness). In this dry case, fumaroles are water-free so that maximum temperatures are not fixed by boiling. As a result greater temperature variation is possible. We use these results to define two vent types at Vulcano on the basis of their thermal characteristics: (1) concentrated (localized) regions of high temperature vents, and (2) dispersed low temperature vents. These occur within a much larger region of diffuse heat emission across which surfaces are heated by steam condensation, the heat from which causes elevated surface temperatures. For Vulcano''s lower fumarole zone, high and low temperature vents occupied total areas of 3 and 6 m2, respectively, and occurred within a larger (430 m2) vent-free zone of diffuse heat emission. For this lower zone, we estimate that 21–43 × 103 W of heat was lost by diffuse heat emission. A further 4.5 × 103 W was lost by radiation from high temperature vents, and 6.5 × 103 W from low temperature vents. Thus, radiative heat losses from high and low temperature vents within Vulcano''s lower fumarole zone respectively account for 10% and 15% of the total heat lost from this zone. This shows that radiation from open vents can account for a non-trivial portion of the total fumarole field heat budget. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract  Estimating depths of buried lava tubes is important for determining the thermal budgets and effusion rates of basaltic volcanic systems. This research used a laboratory experiment scaled to a lava tube system to measure the 3D temperature field surrounding a hot viscous fluid flowing through a buried glass tube while varying conditions such as flow rate and temperature. The depth of the glass tube was changed for different experimental runs. Numerical techniques were applied to model the laboratory experiment. The surface thermal distributions from 166 thermal traverses, constrained to a depth to width ratio of 0.6 to 1.6, were analyzed to empirically derive a depth estimation function using regression techniques. This “Linear Anomaly Surface Transect (LAST)” depth function is a scaleable depth estimation technique which can be solved with thermal imaging data alone. The minimum temperature, maximum temperature and width of a Lorentzian distribution fit to a surface thermal transect, are the only inputs required for the LAST function to estimate the depths of the hot source. The input parameters were then applied to non-laboratory situations including the Kuhio lava tube system in Hawai’i. The LAST function produced depth estimates of ∼ 0.3 m for the Kuhio lava tube in Hawai’i, which did not agree with observations on the ground. This is the result of the complex composition and geometry of an actual lava tube where heat transfer is controlled by more than a simple fluid filling a tube, but also by convection of gasses and fluids in a partially filled passage. Though not effective for lava tubes at this time, the model provides promising results for simple cases applied to engineering and underground coal fires. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract  Measurement of effusion rate is a primary objective for studies that model lava flow and magma system dynamics, as well as for monitoring efforts during on-going eruptions. However, its exact definition remains a source of confusion, and problems occur when comparing volume flux values that are averaged over different time periods or spatial scales, or measured using different approaches. Thus our aims are to: (1) define effusion rate terminology; and (2) assess the various measurement methods and their results. We first distinguish between instantaneous effusion rate, and time-averaged discharge rate. Eruption rate is next defined as the total volume of lava emplaced since the beginning of the eruption divided by the time since the eruption began. The ultimate extension of this is mean output rate, this being the final volume of erupted lava divided by total eruption duration. Whether these values are total values, i.e. the flux feeding all flow units across the entire flow field, or local, i.e. the flux feeding a single active unit within a flow field across which many units are active, also needs to be specified. No approach is without its problems, and all can have large error (up to ∼50%). However, good agreement between diverse approaches shows that reliable estimates can be made if each approach is applied carefully and takes into account the caveats we detail here. There are three important factors to consider and state when measuring, giving or using an effusion rate. First, the time-period over which the value was averaged; second, whether the measurement applies to the entire active flow field, or a single lava flow within that field; and third, the measurement technique and its accompanying assumptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract  Forward Looking Infrared Radiometer (FLIR) cameras offer a unique view of explosive volcanism by providing an image of calibrated temperatures. In this study, 344 eruptive events at Stromboli volcano, Italy, were imaged in 2001–2004 with a FLIR camera operating at up to 30 Hz. The FLIR was effective at revealing both ash plumes and coarse ballistic scoria, and a wide range of eruption styles was recorded. Eruptions at Stromboli can generally be classified into two groups: Type 1 eruptions, which are dominated by coarse ballistic particles, and Type 2 eruptions, which consist of an optically-thick, ash-rich plume, with (Type 2a) or without (Type 2b) large numbers of ballistic particles. Furthermore, Type 2a plumes exhibited gas thrust velocities (>15 m s−1) while Type 2b plumes were limited to buoyant velocities (−1) above the crater rim. A given vent would normally maintain a particular gross eruption style (Type 1 vs. 2) for days to weeks, indicating stability of the uppermost conduit on these timescales. Velocities at the crater rim had a range of 3–101 m s−1, with an overall mean value of 24 m s−1. Mean crater rim velocities by eruption style were: Type 1 = 34 m s−1, Type 2a = 31 m s−1, Type 2b = 7 m s−1. Eruption durations had a range of 6–41 s, with a mean of 15 s, similar among eruption styles. The ash in Type 2 eruptions originates from either backfilled material (crater wall slumping or ejecta rollback) or rheological changes in the uppermost magma column. Type 2a and 2b behaviors are shown to be a function of the overpressure of the bursting slug. In general, our imaging data support a broadening of the current paradigm for strombolian behavior, incorporating an uppermost conduit that can be more variable than is commonly considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An open channel lava flow on Mt. Etna (Sicily) was observed during May 30–31, 2001. Data collected using a forward looking infrared (FLIR) thermal camera and a Minolta-Land Cyclops 300 thermal infrared thermometer showed that the bulk volume flux of lava flowing in the channel varied greatly over time. Cyclic changes in the channel''s volumetric flow rate occurred over several hours, with cycle durations of 113–190 min, and discharges peaking at 0.7 m3 s−1 and waning to 0.1 m3 s−1. Each cycle was characterized by a relatively short, high-volume flux phase during which a pulse of lava, with a well-defined flow front, would propagate down-channel, followed by a period of waning flow during which volume flux lowered. Pulses involved lava moving at relatively high velocities (up to 0.29 m s−1) and were related to some change in the flow conditions occurring up-channel, possibly at the vent. They implied either a change in the dense rock effusion rate at the source vent and/or cyclic-variation in the vesicle content of the lava changing its bulk volume flux. Pulses would generally overspill the channel to emplace pāhoehoe overflows. During periods of waning flow, velocities fell to 0.05 m s–1. Blockages forming during such phases caused lava to back up. Occasionally backup resulted in overflows of slow moving ‘a‘ā that would advance a few tens of meters down the levee flank. Compound levees were thus a symptom of unsteady flow, where overflow levees were emplaced as relatively fast moving pāhoehoe sheets during pulses, and as slow-moving ‘a‘ā units during backup. Small, localized fluctuations in channel volume flux also occurred on timescales of minutes. Volumes of lava backed up behind blockages that formed at constrictions in the channel. Blockage collapse and/or enhanced flow under/around the blockage would then feed short-lived, wave-like, down-channel surges. Real fluctuations in channel volume flux, due to pulses and surges, can lead to significant errors in effusion rate calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]