Title: Muographic Monitoring of Hydrogeomorphic Changes Induced by Post-Eruptive Lahars and Erosion of Sakurajima Volcano
Abstract: Abstract Post-eruptive destabilization of volcanic edifices by gravity driven debris flows or erosion can catastrophically impact the landscapes, economies and human societies surrounding active volcanoes. In this work, we propose muography as a tool for the remote monitoring of hydrogeomorphic responses to volcano landscape disturbances. We conducted the muographic monitoring of Sakurajima volcano, Kyushu, Japan and measured continuous post-eruptive activity with over 30 lahars per year. The sensitive surface area of the Multi-Wire-Proportional-Chamber-based Muography Observation System was upgraded to 7.67 m2 ; this made it possible for the density of tephra within the crater region to be measured in 40 days. We observed the muon flux decrease from 10 % to 40 % through the different regions of the crater from September 2019 to October 2020 due to the continuous deposition of tephra fallouts. In spite of the long-term mass increase, significant mass decreases were also observed after the onsets of rain-triggered lahars that induced the erosion of sedimented tephra. The first muographic observation of these post-eruptive phenomena demonstrate that this passive imaging technique has the potential to contribute to the assessment of indirect volcanic hazards.