Volcano Popocatepetl, Mexico: ULF geomagnetic anomalies observed at Tlamacas station during March–July, 2005

Abstract

In this paper the first results of ULF (Ultra Low Frequency) geomagnetic anomalies observed at Tlamacas station (Long. 261.37, Lat. 19.07) located at 4 km near the volcano Popocatepetl (active volcano, Long. 261.37, Lat. 19.02) for the period March–July, 2005 and their analysis are presented. The geomagnetic data were collected with a 3-axial fluxgate magnetometer designed at UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles, 1 Hz sampling rate frequency, GPS). Our analysis reveals some anomalies which are suspected to be generated by local volcanic origin: the EM background in the vicinity of the volcano is significantly noisier than in other reference stations; the sporadic strong noise-like geomagnetic activity observed in the H-component; locally generated geomagnetic pulsations (without preferred polarization) are detected only at Tlamacas station.