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Monitoring Volcanic and
Seismic Activity
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To properly monitor
an active and erupting volcano a 'net' of
seismometers, like those above, would be ideal.
Easter only has one.19 |
Because there has been no volcanic
activity at Easter Island since its inhabitation by
humans, little is done to monitor the
island's volcanism. There is, however, a
seismometer operating on the island as a part of the
IRIS (Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology)
global network. The purpose of the station is
likely not to monitor Easter itself as much as it is to
monitor the region, but it is nevertheless
available. Details about the station can be found
at:
http://www.fdsn.org/station_
book/II/RPN/rpn.html
MetaData for the instrumentation
can be found at:
http://www.iris.edu/mda/II/RPN
From this site it is possible to
see a real time feed of the data being generated at the
station, as in this example.
Should any sort of volcanic
activity at Easter Island begin in the future, having
only this one seismometer would make forecasting almost
impossible. To effectively monitor and forecast
volcanic events one really needs a "net" of
seismometers, as well as data regarding gas release and
ground deformation.
Such a net allows scientists to triangulate the
various data and precisely determine the location of
seismic activity's origins, while the other monitoring
techniques provide information regarding whether or not
there is magma moving near the surface.18
NVEWS
For a full analysis of the
volcanic monitoring situation on Easter Island based on
the National Volcano Early Warning System, please
visit this page.
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