In flight fragmentation reduces bomb size range and hazard during explosive volcanic eruptions
摘要
Coarse, molten fragments of low-viscosity magma (volcanic bombs) that are ejected during explosive volcanic eruptions represent a source of hazard and a record of past eruptions. After ejection, bombs tend to break up during flight, but how much this affects their dispersal is unclear. Here, we use high-speed and high-definition imaging of three recent explosive eruptions to parameterise the in-flight fragmentation of bombs. We estimate that in-flight fragmentation involves 73% of bombs coarser than