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Abstract On 22 December 2018, parts of the Anak Krakatau edifice collapsed, triggering a deadly tsunami. To investigate pre‐collapse surface displacements, we analyzed Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite geodetic data from 2006 to 2018, acquired from ALOS‐1 (2006–2011), COSMO‐SkyMED (2012–2018), and Sentinel‐1 (2014–2018). We identified line‐of‐sight displacements on the southwestern flank throughout the study period. Inversion of COSMO‐SkyMED data revealed a rectangular dislocation with a cumulative slip of 12 m from April 2012 to December 2018. Fixing the fault geometry, we found the optimal slip for time periods corresponding to slip rate changes, ranging from 1.2 to 3.1 m/yr. The slip estimates for ALOS‐1 and Sentinel‐1 data were 0.88 m/yr and 1.1 m/yr, respectively, over their individual time periods. Overall, the detachment fault experienced approximately 15 m of slip from 2006 to 2018 with acceleration and deceleration periods, and a notable acceleration prior to the 2018 collapse. 

Abstract The processing of hundreds of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images acquired by two satellite systems: Sentinel‐1 and COSMO‐SkyMed reveals a decade of ground deformation for a ∼0.5 km diameter area around the summit crater of the only active carbonatitic volcano on Earth: Ol Doinyo Lengai in Tanzania. Further decomposing ascending and descending orbits when the appropriate SAR data sets overlap allow us to interpret the imaged deformation as ground subsidence with a significant rate of ∼3.6 cm/yr for the pixels located just north of the summit crater. Using geodetic modeling and inverting the highest spatial resolution COSMO‐SkyMed data set, we show that the mechanism explaining this subsidence is most likely a deflating very shallow (≤1 km depth below the summit crater at the 95% confidence level) magma reservoir, consistent with geochemical‐petrological and seismo‐acoustic studies. 

Abstract Standard geodetic models simplify magma sheet injection to the opening of geometrically simple dislocations in a linearly elastic, homogeneous medium. Intrusion geometries are often complex, however, and non‐elastic deformation mechanisms can dominate the response of heterogeneous rocks to magma‐induced stresses. We used three‐dimensional near‐surface displacements of a scaled laboratory experiment in which a steeply inclined analog magma sheet was injected into granular material. We ran forward models and inverted for eight parameters of an “Okada‐type” tensile rectangular dislocation in a homogeneous, isotropic, and linearly elastic half‐space. Displacements generated by a forward model largely mismatch the experimental displacements, but full or restricted non‐linear inversions of geometrical parameters reduce the residual displacements. The intrusion opening, dip, depth, and to a lesser degree length and width mismatch the most between the experiment and inversion results, whereas location and strike mismatch the least. Our results challenge assumptions made by many analytical and geodetic models. 

Abstract Between 2015 and 2021, Nyiragongo's lava lake level experienced a linear increase punctuated by fast intermittent drops. These drops occurred synchronously to seismic swarm at approximately 15 km below the surface and extending laterally NE from the volcano. To interpret these lava lake level patterns in terms of reservoirs pressure evolution within Nyiragongo, we consider the following simplified plumbing system: a central reservoir is fed by a constant flux of magma, distributing the fluid up into the lava lake and laterally into a distal storage zone. Magma transport is driven by a pressure gradient between the magma storage bodies, accommodating influx and outflow of magma elastically, and the lava lake. Lateral transport at depth occurs through a hydraulic connection for which the flow resistance is coupled to the magma flux. When the right conditions are met, lateral magma transport occurs intermittently and triggers intermittent lava lake level drops matching the observations.