RCN: Community Network for Volcanic Eruption Response (CONVERSE)

University Of New Mexico, Albuquerque NM

Investigators

Abstract

Volcanic eruptions pose significant hazards to human life and can be extremely disruptive to the economy of regions and entire countries. The potential success of forecasting and prediction of volcanic eruptions strongly hinges on adequate monitoring of the volcano prior to and during the initial unrest, as well as detailed knowledge of the geologic history of the volcano. Significant advances have been made in the past decade with regards to geophysical and geochemical volcano monitoring techniques that have improved our understanding of what processes may lead up to an eruption. A recent report from the National Academies of Sciences identified that multi-disciplinary and near real-time instrumental observations are critical to make progress in the development of physics-based volcano models that allow for more accurate volcanic activity forecasting. This Research Coordination Network (RCN) has the goal to prepare the US Volcano research community for coordinated and interdisciplinary collaborations to improve the detection of volcanic unrest and when eruptions occur enable the effective responses to these eruptions in order to collect key data and samples. The RCN focuses on science community building and coordination between academic institutions and federal agencies, in particular the USGS but also NASA, NOAA, and other entities like NCAR. The RCN also has the goal to help address fundamental science questions through multi-disciplinary investigations of processes during volcanic activity such as: 1) Can we adequately forecast the size, duration, and hazards of eruptions by integrating observations with quantitative models of magma dynamics? and 2) Can we quantify the life cycles of volcanoes. Broader questions that can be tackled with such interdisciplinary approach are: 1) How is mantle magma production connected through the crust and to volcanoes?; 2) How fast do magmas traverse the crust and what controls the location of storage regions of these magmas?; and 3) What are the physical processes that drive pre-eruption phenomena? Obtaining the best possible and most complete data to address these questions requires collection of data during the first signs of volcanic unrest and run-up to eruption, followed by multi-disciplinary collection of data and samples during the eruption. The leading participants in the Community Network for Volcanic Eruption Response (CoNVErSe) represent a broadly interdisciplinary group of scientists from academia and US federal agencies who reflect the wide range of data, samples, instrumentation and modeling that currently characterizes volcano science. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.