Long-Range Multi-Year Infrasonic Detection of Eruptive Activity at Mount Michael Volcano, South Sandwich Islands

Mount Michael stratovolcano, South Sandwich Islands is extremely remote and challenging to observe, but eruptive activity has been sporadically observed since 1820 and captured by satellite methods since 1989. We identify long-range infrasound signals recorded by the International Monitoring System attributable to episodes of persistent eruptive activity at Mount Michael. Analysis of multi-year (2004-2020) infrasound array data at station IS27, Antarctica (range 1,672 km) reveals candidate signals especially from May 2005 to January 2008 and from May 2016 to April 2018. By combining ray-tracing with empirical climatologies and atmospheric specifications, we show that systematic variations in the observed backazimuth of the signals (at IS27) are broadly consistent with annual variability in stratospheric propagation conditions for a source at Mount Michael. Observed signal amplitudes combined with transmission loss estimates are consistent with moderate explosive eruption. We highlight a selection of infrasound signals that correspond to satellite observation of eruptions.