Station POPO

Questions for Sara Ivonne Franco Sanchez

Popocatepetl Volcano

In the language of Nahuatl, Popocatepetl means a smoking mountain." This volcano is at an elevation of 5450 m and it sits approximately 70 km southeast of Mexico's capital. It represents a great hazard for both the capital and the closer city of Puebla. Many times in the past, the ash produced by eruptions from Popocatepetl has generated significant logistical problems, causing heath concerns and aircraft hazards.

In May 2013, Popocatepetl volcano awoke again. In order to monitor crustal deformation due to the volcano, the Seismological National Service of Mexico(SSN), established a GPS permanent station near the volcano's crater. It is collocated with the broadband seismological observatory.

This last eruptive period is still ongoing and we're ready to use this data to better understand what is happening in the magma chamber of the volcano. The POPO station belongs to the larger continuously-operating UNAM-IGEF GPS network. This network currently has over 20 real-time stations which are sampling at 1 Hz. They are distributed throughout the country, but principally on Mexico's Pacific coast. The POPO station is also sensitive to episodic tremor and slip events.