Volcanic Thunder From Explosive Eruptions at Bogoslof Volcano, Alaska

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Matthew M. Haney, Alexa R. Van Eaton, John J. Lyons, Rebecca L. Kramer, David Fee, Alexandra M. Iezzi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2018-04-01
• Subjects: explosive volcanism; volcano monitoring
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL076911

Abstract Lightning often occurs during ash‐producing eruptive activity, and its detection is now being used in volcano monitoring for rapid alerts. We report on infrasonic and sonic recordings of the related, but previously undocumented, phenomenon of volcanic thunder. We observe volcanic thunder during the waning stages of two explosive eruptions at Bogoslof volcano, Alaska, on a microphone array located 60 km away. Thunder signals arrive from a different direction than coeruptive infrasound generated at the vent following an eruption on 10 June 2017, consistent with locations from lightning networks. For the 8 March 2017 eruption, arrival times and amplitudes of high‐frequency thunder signals correlate well with the timing and strength of lightning detections. In both cases, the thunder is associated with lightning that continues after significant eruptive activity has ended. Infrasonic and sonic observations of volcanic thunder offer a new avenue for studying electrification processes in volcanic plumes.