Title: CH4 and CO2 Gas Emissions Before and After a Steamboat Geyser Eruption
Authors: Moyosore Ajayi (Vanderbilt University) & John C. Ayers (Vanderbilt University)
Publication Date: Accepted 16 Mar 2021
Journal: Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research
The objective of this project was to measure the real-time concentration and carbon isotopic measurements of methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) before and after a major eruption at Steamboat Geyser, Norris Geyser Basin, WY. Steamboat is the tallest erupting active geyser in the world and has recently entered a phase of high activity. Between 2000 and 2017, 10 eruptions occurred; however, between April 2018 and March 2020, Steamboat erupted more than 85 times with an average of 8 ± 3 (1σ) days between each event. Work to understand this recent spate of eruptions has begun to trickle out in publications (e.g., Reed et al., 2021 and Wu et al., 2020).
However, this study sought to find insight from a time series of gas measurements during an eruption cycle. Ajayi and Ayers (in review) found an anomalous measurement 10-25 minutes prior to the eruption on 12 Jun 2019. This anomalous measurement may in fact be a precursor signal that can alert an approaching eruption.
The data associated within this project is located in a Mendeley Data repository. Note: the link to the data repository will not work until Mendeley Data complete its review; until that time, preview the repository here.
Code in the Steamboat-Code folder provides the algorithms used for analysis in this manuscript.
Reed, M. H., Munoz-Saez, C., Hajimirza, S., Wu, S.-M., Barth, A., Girona, T., … Manga, M. (2021). The 2018 reawakening and eruption dynamics of Steamboat Geyser, the world’s tallest active geyser. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(2), e2020943118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2020943118
Wu, S.-M., Lin, F.-C., Farrell, J., Keller, W. E., White, E. B., & Hungerford, J. D. G. (2020). Imaging the Subsurface Plumbing Complex of Steamboat Geyser and Cistern Spring with Hydrothermal Tremor Migration Using Seismic Interfermoetry. Journal of Geophysical Research. https://doi.org/doi.org/10.1002/essoar.10504609.1