LIGHTNING ACTIVITY DURING THE 2011 ERUPTION OF THE CORDÓN CAULLE VOLCANIC COMPLEX
Mara Gabriela Nicora , Rodrigo E. Burgesser, Alejandro Rosales, Eduardo J. Quel y Eldo E. Avila
CEILAP, UNIDEF (MINDEF - CONICET), UMI-IFAECI-CNRS 3351, - Juan Bautista de La Salle 4397 - B1603ALO Villa Martelli, Argentina.
FaMAF, Universidad Nacional de Cordoba, IFEG-CONICET, Cordoba, Argentina.
Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia SJB, Facultad de Ingeniera, Departamento de Fsica, Rawson y Belgrano, 9100 Trelew, Chubut, Argentina
Manuscript received on 22 August 2012, in final form on 21 March 2013
ABSTRACT
A study of the lightning activity generated by the eruption of the Cordón Caulle volcanic complex during June 2011 was performed using the World Wide Lightning Location Network data. The observed lightning activity corresponds to the volcanic plume electrical activity with a good correlation between the lightning count and the volcanic plume height. Although the detected lightning activity was low, the results agree with previous studies and show that lightning activity could be used as a proxy of the volcanic activity. This study also shows the feasibility on the use of the network for early volcanic eruptions detection.