Hydroacoustic detection of submarine landslides on Kilauea volcano

Abstract

Landslides produced at the site where lava flows into the ocean at Kilauea volcano have been detected hydroacoustically. Up to 10 landslides per day were detected by a hydrophone on the Hawaii Undersea Geo-Observatory (HUGO), located 50 km south of the entry site. The largest of these landslides, partly subaerial events known as bench collapses, were detected by a network of hydrophones in the eastern Pacific, 5000-7000 km away from the source. The landslides display a characteristic spectral signature easily recognizable among other signals such as earthquake T-phases and anthropogenic noises. The fact that signals are detected at great distances suggests that hydroacoustic detection of landslides could be a powerful tool in tsunami monitoring and modeling efforts.