Long‐term monitoring of long‐period seismicity and space‐based SO 2 observations at African lava lake volcanoes Nyiragongo and Nyamulagira (DR Congo)

Magma ascent that may lead to an eruption is commonly accompanied by variations of long‐period seismic activity and SO 2 degassing. Space‐based measurements of SO 2 emission rates represent a rapidly emerging and highly convenient approach for volcano monitoring; however, combining these long‐term remote sensing observations with seismic data is still rare and, in particular, the potential of such a multidisciplinary approach as volcano monitoring tool remains largely unexplored. Here shallow magmatic activity and magma migration patterns at the two closely located African volcanoes Nyiragongo and Nyamulagira are inferred from a nearly 3 years long SO 2 emissions record and seismic observations between April 2014 and February 2017. The discrimination of magma movements into shallow plumbing systems allows for signs of volcanic unrest to be deciphered on a daily time scale, even with limited instrumentation on site.