Connecting Lava Rheology and Flow Dynamics Using Novel Field and Modeling Techniques

熔岩流在整个太阳系中非常丰富，是岩浆喷发的最常见方式。熔岩流拥有关于行星演化基本过程的关键信息，但同时也给居住在一些活火山附近的社区带来了巨大的风险。尽管它们在塑造地球和影响社会方面具有明显的重要性，但关于熔岩流的性质和行为还有许多悬而未决的问题。该项目旨在将测量熔岩变形的新观测技术与综合流动模拟程序联合收割机结合起来，以便更好地了解熔岩的物理特性以及活动流动的行为和动力学。获得对熔岩在自然环境中的机械特性以及控制流动就位的过程的更准确描述将有助于解决基本科学问题，例如海洋地壳的形成方式或火山活动卫星和行星的表面是如何形成的。建议的工作是适用于熔岩流在广泛的环境。 研究人员将采用一种新的实验、观测和分析方法，旨在详细测量活动通道化流动中的熔岩速度，并从中推断流变学模型。他们将使用可见光和红外高分辨率相机现场捕获流动熔岩的整个表面速度和温度场。他们对活火山中的天然熔岩流进行了观察（例如，在夏威夷或意大利）和人造熔岩流在熔岩项目实验设施在锡拉丘兹大学（lavaproject.syr.edu）。这项工作的理论方面将采用现代计算机视觉技术从捕获的图像中提取速度场。在实验和现场获得的数据将用于缩小最合适的流变模型和参数，需要描述流动的熔岩。这将通过系统地检查数值的渠道化流动与不同的流变学和几何形状的前向模型。这项工作将是第一次在如此详细和近距离的熔岩流变和变形研究。在观测工作的同时，计划改进用于模拟熔岩流的计算工具，以便建立考虑复杂流变学和流动结构的模型。例如，他们将努力开发一种建模工具，该工具将包括基于场的流变模型，并将支持自通道化，这是目前社区无法获得的一种重要能力。他们将使他们的建模工具通用和灵活，以适应广泛的喷发环境，包括其他行星上的陆地，海底和火山地形。

Lava flows are abundant throughout the solar system, and are the most common fashion in which erupted magmas are emplaced. Lava flows hold key information about fundamental processes of planetary evolution, but at the same time present a great risk to the communities residing near some active volcanoes. Despite their clear importance in shaping the planet and affecting society, there are many open questions regarding the properties and behavior of lava flows. This project aims to combine a novel observational technique for measuring lava deformation in the field with a comprehensive flow modeling program in order to develop a better understanding of lava physical properties and the behavior and dynamics of active flows. Gaining more accurate descriptions of the mechanical properties of lavas in their natural environment and of the processes controlling flow emplacement will help address fundamental scientific questions, such as the way oceanic crust is formed or how the faces of volcanically-active moons and planets are shaped. The proposed work is applicable to lava flows in a wide range of environments. The researchers will employ a new experimental, observational and analytical methodology designed to measure lava velocity in active channelized flows in great detail and to infer a rheology model from it. They will capture, in-situ, the entire surface velocity and temperature fields of the flowing lava using both visible and infrared high-resolution cameras. They make observations on both natural lava flows in active volcanoes (e.g., in Hawai'i or Italy) and man-made lava flows at the Lava Project experimental facility in Syracuse University (http://lavaproject.syr.edu). The theoretical aspects of this work will employ modern computer-vision techniques to extract the velocity field from the captured imagery. Data obtained in the experiments and in the field will be used to narrow down the most appropriate rheological model and parameters that are needed to describe flowing lava. This will be done by systematically examining numerical forward-models of channelized flow with varying rheologies and geometries. This work will be the first time that lava rheology and deformation are studied at such detail and close range. In parallel to the observational effort, it is planned to advance the computational tools used to model lava flows, in order to allow models that account for complex rheologies and flow structures. For example, they will strive to develop a modeling tool that will include the field-based rheological model and will support self- channelization, an important capability currently not available to the community. They will make their modeling tool general and flexible, to accommodate a wide set of eruption environments, including terrestrial, submarine and volcanic terrains on other planets.