RAPID: Collaborative Research: Rapid Response to Ongoing Tolbachik Eruption

该RAPID奖资助对俄罗斯堪察加中部托尔巴奇克火山持续大规模喷发的迅速反应，该火山在平静36年后于2012年11月27日开始几乎没有警告。在喷发开始的两天内，熔岩流已经行进了近10公里，覆盖面积约14平方公里。火山爆发形成了一系列的火山锥，这些火山锥为熔岩流提供了补给，在撰写本文时，这些熔岩流在火山的贫瘠山坡上延伸了近20公里，进入了白雪覆盖的森林。研究人员将加入一个由火山学家组成的国际小组，他们正在监测正在进行的活动，并将重点关注火山爆发的两个重要方面：（1）熔岩与冰雪的相互作用，以及（2）喷发熔岩成分及其晶体货物的时间变化。这两个主题对于提高我们对火山爆发的理解是及时的。对熔岩流如何与冰雪相互作用进行更定量的了解，对于评估冰雪覆盖的火山的危害以及提高我们识别熔岩-冰雪相互作用形成的古代沉积物的能力至关重要。很少有定量的研究已经尝试在该领域量化从熔岩到雪或冰的热传递，这需要直接的现场测量在一个活跃的熔岩流通过雪/冰为主的环境传播的前面。虽然这些条件是非常短暂的，但它们现在出现在Tolbachik，因为周围的大部分景观都被季节性积雪覆盖，这为测量熔岩和雪/冰之间的热传递创造了一个独特的机会，并为它们相互作用的实验和理论建模提供了更准确的限制。更好地了解熔岩流如何快速融化冰雪，对于确定冰雪覆盖的火山（如Mt.雷尼尔瀑布。同样，在喷发期间和喷发后立即收集熔岩和火山灰样本也很重要，因为：（i）可以明确确定其幼年起源，（ii）可以精确地知道其喷发时间。这些特点是至关重要的，使用一系列的喷发产品，观察喷发序列中的成分趋势，并确定岩浆过程，触发和目前驱动在Tolbachik喷发。这个RAPID奖将允许在喷发产物被火山灰或后来的熔岩流掩埋之前对其进行采样。

This RAPID award funds a prompt response to the ongoing, massive eruption of Tolbachik volcano, central Kamchatka, Russia, which started with little warning on November 27, 2012, after 36 years of quiescence. Within two days of the eruption onset the lava flows had already traveled nearly 10 km, covering an area of ~14 km2. The eruption has formed a series of cinder cones that feed lava flows, which at the time of this writing extend for nearly 20 km over the barren slopes of the volcano down into snow-covered forests. The investigators will join an international team of volcanologists who are monitoring the ongoing activity, and will focus on two important aspects of the eruption: (1) interaction of lava with snow and ice, and (2) temporal variations of the composition of erupted lavas and their crystal cargo.Both of these topics are timely for improving our understanding of volcanic eruptions. Gaining a more quantitative understanding of how lava flows interact with snow and ice is critical for assessing hazards at snow and ice covered volcanoes and for improving our ability to recognize ancient deposits formed by lava-snow interactions. Few if any quantitative studies have been attempted in the field to quantify heat transfer from lava to snow or ice; this requires direct field measurements at the front of an active lava flow propagating through the snow/ice-dominating environment. While these conditions are highly ephemeral, they are now present at Tolbachik as the eruption began after much of the surrounding landscape had been covered by seasonal snow, which has created a unique opportunity to measure heat transfer between lava and snow/ice and provide more accurate constraints for experimental and theoretical modeling of their interaction. Having a better understanding of how lava flows rapidly melt snow and ice is important for identifying hazardous areas around snow and ice-covered volcanoes such as Mt. Rainier in the Cascades. Similarly, collection of lava and ash samples during and immediately after their eruption is important because: (i) their juvenile origin can be established unequivocally and (ii) their time of eruption is known precisely. These characteristics are critical for using a series of erupted products to observe compositional trends in the eruptive sequence and to identify magma processes that triggered and currently drive the eruption at Tolbachik. This RAPID award will allow sampling of the eruptive products before they are buried by ash or later lava flows.