Eruption mass estimation using infrasound waveform inversion and ash and gas measurements: Evaluation at Sakurajima Volcano, Japan

Abstract

Eruption mass and mass flow rate are critical parameters for determining the aerial extent and hazard of volcanic emissions. Infrasound waveform inversion is a promising technique to quantify volcanic emissions. Although topography may substantially alter the infrasound waveform as it propagates, advances in wave propagation modeling and station coverage permit robust inversion of infrasound data from volcanic explosions. The inversion can estimate eruption mass flow rate and total eruption mass if the flow density is known. However, infrasound-based eruption flow rates and mass estimates have yet to be validated against independent measurements, and numerical modeling has only recently been applied to the inversion technique. Furthermore we present a robust full-waveform acoustic inversion method, and use it to calculate eruption flow rates and masses from 49 explosions from Sakurajima Volcano, Japan.