Differential Phase Analysis for Volcanic Tremor Detection and Source Location

Abstract

We present observations showing that during episodes of volcanic tremors, the phase of inter-station cross-correlations becomes stable. We propose a new quantity, the phase coherence, to identify the differential phase stability in recordings obtained from a single pair of stations, which is extrapolated to the seismic network. Then, we present a new approach based on the estimation of differential travel times through the differential phase measurements, to locate the sources of tremors occurring at the end of 2015 at the Klyuchevskoy Volcanic Group in Kamchatka, Russia. We present evidence supporting the existence of two types of activity happening simultaneously during the tremor episode: the main tremor source, originating from a region located between 7 and 9 km depth under the main volcanoes, and the widespread occurrence of weak low-frequency earthquakes occurring at random locations. We show how the phase coherence and the differential phases can be used to provide information on the stability of the tremor source position and to estimate its location.