Surveying Volcanic Arcs with Satellite Radar Interferometry: The Central Andes, Kamchatka, and Beyond

Satellite Interferometric Synthetic Radar (InSAR) permits both and detailed surveys of magmatic in volcanic arcs. To illustrate this capability, we summarize the results of an extended study of magmatic activity in the central arc (Pritchard and Simons, 2002;, 2003; Pritchard and Simons, 2004), as well as new results from. In the central Andes, encompassing of Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, we have observed ~900 between 1992 and 2003 and four previously undocumented of deformation. Coupled with in other arcs, this deformation that short-lived pulses magma movement are common, although relation of these movements eruptive activity is unclear. In fact, no -eruptive deformation was detected eruptions at four other Andean. In Kamchatka, the limits of InSAR satellites are apparent in of the quality of the measurements coverage of the arc. Nonetheless, observe subsidence associated with large lava flow that erupted 28 years and inflation of a geothermally active. While a global inventory of arcs is impossible with current, InSAR is a critical tool for understanding hazard at most of world’s poorly monitored subaerial as well as for searching for magma reservoirs.