Christoph Kern
Christoph Kern is a Research Physicist for the USGS Volcano Science Center. His research focuses on measuring volcanic gas emissions and interpreting the results to gain insights into processes occurring within active volcanoes.
Christoph develops and applies remote sensing techniques to measure volcanic gas emissions. These contact-free methods allow gases to be measured from a distance, without the need for putting scientists or instrumentation into harm’s way at the summit of active volcanoes.
In addition to monitoring volcanoes in Alaska, Hawaii, and the Cascades Range, Christoph works with the USGS Volcano Disaster Assistance Program to provide instrumentation and advice to foreign counterparts. He is currently serving on the Steering Committee of the Network for Observation of Volcanic and Atmospheric Change (NOVAC), a global community of volcano observatories and research institutions that runs the largest volcanic gas monitoring network in the world.
Christoph is always striving to find new measurement techniques, retrieval methods, and analysis tools to detect gas signals diagnostic of volcanic unrest. He is also interested in how volcanic gases affect atmospheric chemistry and climate on local, regional, and global scales.
Education and Certifications
Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Heidelberg, Germany
Science and Products
Chemical evaluation of water and gases collected from hydrothermal systems located in the central Aleutian arc, August 2015
The 2017-19 activity at Mount Agung in Bali (Indonesia): Intense unrest, monitoring, crisis response, evacuation, and eruption
The 2018 rift eruption and summit collapse of Kilauea Volcano
Spatial distribution of halogen oxides in the plume of Mount Pagan volcano, Mariana Islands
Gas and ash emissions associated with the 2010–present activity of Sinabung Volcano, Indonesia
Construction of probabilistic event trees for eruption forecasting at Sinabung volcano, Indonesia 2013–14
A new sulfur and carbon degassing inventory for the Southern Central American Volcanic Arc: The importance of accurate time-series datasets and possible tectonic processes responsible for temporal variations in arc-scale volatile emissions
Remote measurement of high preeruptive water vapor emissions at Sabancaya volcano by passive differential optical absorption spectroscopy
The difficulty of measuring the absorption of scattered sunlight by H2O and CO2 in volcanic plumes: A comment on Pering et al. “A novel and inexpensive method for measuring volcanic plume water fluxes at high temporal resolution,” Remote Sens. 2017, 9, 14
Magmatic degassing, lava dome extrusion, and explosions from Mount Cleveland volcano, Alaska, 2011–2015: Insight into the continuous nature of volcanic activity over multi-year timescales
Short-period volcanic gas precursors to phreatic eruptions: Insights from Poás Volcano, Costa Rica
The 2014 annual report for the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory
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Filter Total Items: 38
Chemical evaluation of water and gases collected from hydrothermal systems located in the central Aleutian arc, August 2015
Five volcanic-hydrothermal systems in the central Aleutians Islands were sampled for water and gas geochemistry in 2015 to provide baseline data to help predict future volcanic unrest. Some areas had not been sampled in 20–30 years (Makushin volcano, Geyser Bight), and other areas had minimal to no prior sampling (Tana volcano and Fisher Caldera). The chemical and isotopic data of the waters showAuthorsCynthia A. Werner, Christoph Kern, Peter J. KellyThe 2017-19 activity at Mount Agung in Bali (Indonesia): Intense unrest, monitoring, crisis response, evacuation, and eruption
After 53 years of quiescence, Mount Agung awoke in August 2017, with intense seismicity, measurable ground deformation, and thermal anomalies in the summit crater. Although the seismic unrest peaked in late September and early October, the volcano did not start erupting until 21 November. The most intense explosive eruptions with accompanying rapid lava effusion occurred between 25 and 29 NovemberAuthorsD.K. Syahbana, K. Kasbani, G. Suantika, O. Prambada, A. Andreas, U. Saing, S. Kunrat, S.L. Andreastuti, S. Martanto, E. Kriswati, Y. Suparman, H. Humaida, Sarah E. Ogburn, Peter J. Kelly, John Wellik, Heather Wright, Jeremy D. Pesicek, Rick Wessels, Christoph Kern, Michael Lisowski, Angela K. Diefenbach, Michael P. Poland, Francois Beauducel, R. Greg Vaughan, John S. Pallister, Jacob B. LowensternThe 2018 rift eruption and summit collapse of Kilauea Volcano
In 2018, Kīlauea Volcano experienced its largest lower East Rift Zone (LERZ) eruption and caldera collapse in at least 200 years. After collapse of the Pu'u 'Ō'ō vent on 30 April, magma propagated downrift. Eruptive fissures opened in the LERZ on 3 May, eventually extending ~6.8 km. A 4 May earthquake (M6.9) produced ~5 m of fault slip. Lava erupted at rates exceeding 100 m3/s, eventually coveriAuthorsChristina A. Neal, Steven Brantley, Loren Antolik, Janet Babb, Matthew K. Burgess, Michael Cappos, Jefferson Chang, Sarah Conway, Liliana G. Desmither, Peter Dotray, Tamar Elias, Pauline Fukunaga, Steven Fuke, Ingrid Johanson, Kevan Kamibayashi, James P. Kauahikaua, R. Lopaka Lee, S. Pekalib, Asta Miklius, Brian Shiro, Don Swanson, Patricia Nadeau, Michael H. Zoeller, P. Okubo, Carolyn Parcheta, Matthew R. Patrick, William Tollett, Frank A. Trusdell, Edward F. Younger, Emily Montgomery-Brown, Kyle R. Anderson, Michael P. Poland, Jessica L. Ball, Joseph A. Bard, Michelle L. Coombs, Hannah R. Dietterich, Christoph Kern, Weston Thelen, Peter Cervelli, Tim R. Orr, Bruce F. Houghton, Cheryl Gansecki, Richard Hazlett, Paul Lundgren, Angela K. Diefenbach, Allan Lerner, Greg Waite, Peter J. Kelly, Laura E. Clor, Cynthia Werner, Katherine Mulliken, Gary B. Fisher, David DambySpatial distribution of halogen oxides in the plume of Mount Pagan volcano, Mariana Islands
Halogens are emitted from volcanoes primarily as hydrogen halides (HCl, HF, HBr, and HI). Upon mixing with the atmosphere, chlorine and bromine species are partially converted to the halogen oxides OClO and BrO. Here we report on the spatial distribution of BrO and OClO in the gas plume emitted from Mount Pagan volcano, Northern Mariana Islands. We found enhanced BrO/SO2 ratios near the plume edgeAuthorsChristoph Kern, John J. LyonsGas and ash emissions associated with the 2010–present activity of Sinabung Volcano, Indonesia
Sinabung Volcano (Sumatra, Indonesia) awoke from over 1200 years of dormancy with multiple phreatic explosions in 2010. After a period of quiescence, Sinabung activity resumed in 2013, producing frequent explosions, lava dome extrusion, and pyroclastic flows from dome collapses, becoming one of the world's most active volcanoes and displacing over 20,000 citizens. This study presents a compilationAuthorsSofyan Primulyana, Christoph Kern, Allan Lerner, Ugan Saing, Syegi Kunrat, Hilma Alfianti, Mitha MarliaConstruction of probabilistic event trees for eruption forecasting at Sinabung volcano, Indonesia 2013–14
Eruptions of Sinabung volcano, Indonesia have been ongoing since 2013. Since that time, the character of eruptions has changed, from phreatic to phreatomagmatic to magmatic explosive eruptions, and from production of a lava dome that collapsed to a subsequent thick lava flow that slowly ceased to be active, and later, to a new lava dome. As the eruption progressed, event trees were constructed toAuthorsHeather M. Wright, John S. Pallister, Wendy A. McCausland, Julia P. Griswold, Supriyati Andreastuti, Agus Budianto, Sofyan Primulyana, Maurizio Battaglia, Angie Diefenbach, John W. Ewert, Peter J. Kelly, Christoph Kern, Martin R. LaFevers, Andrew B. Lockhart, Jeffrey N. Marso, Gari C. Mayberry, Steve P. Schilling, Rick Wessels, Randall A. White, Nurnaning Aisyah, Nugraha Kartadinata, Kristianto, Raditya Putra, Ugan Boyson Saing, Agus Solihin, Yasa Suparman, Devy Damil Syahbana, Hetty TriastutyA new sulfur and carbon degassing inventory for the Southern Central American Volcanic Arc: The importance of accurate time-series datasets and possible tectonic processes responsible for temporal variations in arc-scale volatile emissions
This work presents a new database of SO2 and CO2 fluxes from the Southern Central American Volcanic Arc (SCAVA) for the period 2015–2016. We report ∼300 SO2 flux measurements from 10 volcanoes and gas ratios from 11 volcanoes in Costa Rica and Nicaragua representing the most extensive available assessment of this ∼500 km arc segment. The SO2 flux from SCAVA is estimated at 6,240 ± 1,150 T/d, aboutAuthorsMaarten de Moor, Christoph Kern, Geoffroy Avard, Cyril Muller, Sandro Aiuppa, Armando Saballos, Martha Ibarra, Peter LaFemina, Mario Protti, Tobias FischerRemote measurement of high preeruptive water vapor emissions at Sabancaya volcano by passive differential optical absorption spectroscopy
Water (H2O) is by far the most abundant volcanic volatile species and plays a predominant role in driving volcanic eruptions. However, numerous difficulties associated with making accurate measurements of water vapor in volcanic plumes have limited their use as a diagnostic tool. Here we present the first detection of water vapor in a volcanic plume using passive visible-light differential opticalAuthorsChristoph Kern, Pablo Masias, Fredy Apaza, Kevin Reath, Ulrich PlattThe difficulty of measuring the absorption of scattered sunlight by H2O and CO2 in volcanic plumes: A comment on Pering et al. “A novel and inexpensive method for measuring volcanic plume water fluxes at high temporal resolution,” Remote Sens. 2017, 9, 14
In their recent study, Pering et al. (2017) presented a novel method for measuring volcanic water vapor fluxes. Their method is based on imaging volcanic gas and aerosol plumes using a camera sensitive to the near-infrared (NIR) absorption of water vapor. The imaging data are empirically calibrated by comparison with in situ water measurements made within the plumes. Though the presented method maAuthorsChristoph KernMagmatic degassing, lava dome extrusion, and explosions from Mount Cleveland volcano, Alaska, 2011–2015: Insight into the continuous nature of volcanic activity over multi-year timescales
Mount Cleveland volcano (1730 m) is one of the most active volcanoes in the Aleutian arc, Alaska, but heightened activity is rarely accompanied by geophysical signals, which makes interpretation of the activity difficult. In this study, we combine volcanic gas emissions measured for the first time in August 2015 with longer-term measurements of thermal output and lava extrusion rates between 2011AuthorsCynthia Werner, Christoph Kern, Diego Coppola, John J. Lyons, Peter J. Kelly, Kristi L. Wallace, David J. Schneider, Rick WesselsShort-period volcanic gas precursors to phreatic eruptions: Insights from Poás Volcano, Costa Rica
Volcanic eruptions involving interaction with water are amongst the most violent and unpredictable geologic phenomena on Earth. Phreatic eruptions are exceptionally difficult to forecast by traditional geophysical techniques. Here we report on short-term precursory variations in gas emissions related to phreatic blasts at Poás volcano, Costa Rica, as measured with an in situ multiple gas analyzerAuthorsMaarten de Moor, Alessandro Aiuppa, Javier Pacheco, Geoffroy Avard, Christoph Kern, Marco Liuzzo, Maria Martinez, Gaetano Giudice, Tobias P. FischerThe 2014 annual report for the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory
Introduction This report summarizes team activities and findings of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory during the year 2014 in geology, geodesy, seismicity, and gas geochemistry. The eruption of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō continued into its 32nd year with flows active to the northeast of the vent. One of them, the June 27th lava flow, named for the date in 2014 that the flow started, advanced far and fast enough toAuthorsJames P. Kauahikaua, Tim R. Orr, Matt Patrick, Weston A. Thelen, Matthew K. Burgess, Asta Miklius, Michael P. Poland, Kyle R. Anderson, Loren Antolik, Tamar Elias, Jeff Sutton, Christoph Kern, Cindy Werner - News