Remotely detecting submarine volcanic activity at Monowai: insights from International Monitoring System hydroacoustic data

Monowai is an active submarine volcanic center in the Kermadec Arc, Southwest Pacific Ocean. We show, using cross-correlation and time-difference-of-arrival techniques, that low-frequency underwater sound waves from the volcano travel in the Sound Fixing and Ranging (SOFAR) channel and can be detected by bottom-moored hydrophone arrays of the International Monitoring System (IMS), a global sensor network maintained by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization. Hydroacoustic phases associated with the May 2011 eruption at Monowai are identified in the record of the IMS station at Ascension Island, Equatorial Atlantic Ocean. The source-receiver distance of ~15,800 km is the furthest documented range of any naturally occurring underwater signal ever observed. Our observations are consistent with results from transmission loss modeling, which suggest that acoustic propagation at southern latitudes is facilitated by the anomalous temperature regime of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Subsequently, we examine the 3.5-year record of the IMS hydrophone station near Juan Fernández Islands, Southeast Pacific Ocean, for volcanic activity at Monowai. Density-based clustering of arrivals during the time periods when data is available, i.e. from July 2003 to March 2004, and between April 2014 and January 2017, reveals 82 discrete episodes that are spaced days to weeks apart, typically ranging from a few hours to days in length. The resolution of the hydrophone data for seismic events at the volcano is estimated at 2.2 mb and exceeds regional broadband networks by one order of magnitude. Considering the results and techniques developed in the study of Monowai, we investigate the 2014 submarine eruption of Ahyi volcano in the Northern Mariana Islands. Acoustic phases of the 15-day episode are identified in the record of an IMS hydrophone array located at Wake Island in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. Explosive volcanic activity occurred in two bursts, accompanied by a decrease in low-frequency arrivals that is interpreted as a shift in signal source parameters. Acoustic energy released during the event is on the order of 9.7 1013 J.