Thermal camera system and lava lake motion and degassing at Erebus, Antarctica

Studies of Erebus volcano's active lava lake have shown that many of its observable properties (gas composition, surface motion and radiant heat output) exhibit cyclic behaviour with a period of ~10 min. We investigate the multi-year progression of the cycles in surface motion of the lake using an extended (but intermittent) dataset of thermal infrared images collected by the Mount Erebus Volcano Observatory between 2004 and 2011. Cycles with a period of ~5-18 min are found to be a persistent feature of the lake's behaviour and no obvious long-term change is observed despite variations in lake level and surface area. The times at which gas bubbles arrive at the lake's surface are found to be random with respect to the phase of the motion cycles, suggesting that the remarkable behaviour of the lake is governed by magma exchange rather than an intermittent flux of gases from the underlying magma reservoir.

Several studies at Erebus volcano have recorded pulsatory behavior in many of the observable properties of its active lava lake. A strong correlation between the variations in surface speed of the lake and the composition of gas emitted has previously been noted. While previous studies have shown that the SO2 flux and the surface elevation exhibit pulsatory behavior with a similar period to that of the surface speed and gas composition, suggesting they are linked, a lack of overlap between the different measurements has prevented direct comparisons from being made. Using high time-resolution measurements of surface elevation, surface speed, gas composition, and SO2 flux, we demonstrate for the first time an unam- biguous link between the cyclic behavior in each of these properties. We also show that the variation in gas composition may be explained by a subtle change in oxygen fugacity. The cycles are found to be in-phase with each other, with a small but consistent lag of 1-3 min between the peaks in surface elevation and sur- face speed. Explosive events are found to have no observable effect on the pulsatory behavior beyond the ~5 min period required for lake refill. The close correspondences between the varying lake surface motion, gas flux and composition, and modeled oxygen fugacity suggest strong links between magma degassing, redox change, and the fluid dynamics of the shallow magmatic system.

In December 2012, the Mount Erebus Volcano Ob- servatory installed a thermal infrared camera system to monitor the volcano's active lava lake. The new system is designed to be autonomous, and capable of capturing images of the lava lake continuously throughout the year. This represents a significant improvement over previous systems which required the frequent attention of observatory researchers and could therefore only be operated during a few weeks of the annual field campaigns. The extreme environmental conditions at the summit of Erebus pose significant challenges for continuous monitoring equipment, and a custom-made system was the only viable solution. Here we describe the hardware and software of the new system in detail and report on a publicly available online repository where data will be archived. Aspects of the technical solutions we had to find in order to overcome the challenges of automating this equipment may be relevant in other environmental science domains where remote instrument operation is involved.