DIGIVOLCAN PROJECT

Summary:

The project is mainly motivated by the observation of volcanic precursors in the recent eruption of Cumbre Vieja in 2021. This eruption was preceded by only eight days of intense seismicity and uplift. Although the pattern of geophysical precursors was quite clear, the rapid evolution of the phenomenon took the national and international scientific community by surprise. The importance of this geological event highlights the need to develop digital structures capable of automatically alerting of the probability of eruptive events in the short term. Today there are several alternatives based on artificial intelligence and probability theory, but practical applications to real-life volcanic monitoring systems are scarce. The DigiVolCan project aims to fill this gap, demonstrating the feasibility of applying these techniques, using a retrospective analysis of the eruptions of Tagoro (El Hierro) in 2011-2012, and Tajogaite (La Palma), in 2021; and developing a digital structure focused on the analysis of data from monitoring volcanic activity in real time. To achieve this goal, the project aims to test and apply established innovative technologies, such as Distributed Acoustic Sensing Systems (DAS). This technology will improve the quality of existing volcanic monitoring networks, contribute significantly to a more accurate quantification of the state of a volcano, and, therefore, to the forecasting of an eruption.

General objective:

The project’s primary goal is to create a digital infrastructure that will enable automated quantitative interpretation, preprocessing, analysis, and presentation of multiparametric data in a user-friendly interface. In this digital infrastructure, DAS technology will be crucial, where APL will develop a new interrogator system capable of detecting and analyzing seismological information.