(University of Oregon, 2011-10-18) MacQueen, Patricia
Scientists have been using campaign gravity surveys to monitor volcanic activity at Kilauea's summit for decades, yet we have a poor understanding of the ability of the existing network to resolve sources of magma accumulation with different mass changes and depths. We also do not yet have a fully quantified measure of the relative importance of the stations in the network. This research tests the network using a simple forward modeling approach over a range of likely source volumes and depths. The analysis determines network sensitivity to three different likely source locations, calculates the relative importance of stations in the network, and examines the problem of signal distortion imposed by network geometry. This work finds that the current network is least sensitive to south caldera sources, and investigates the location and number of stations that will resolve this problem most effectively.
