A study of Nicaragua's active Masaya volcano, near which almost 2 million people live, has revealed that its underground magma system may be considerably more complex than previously understood. Scientists at Penn State analysed six years of satellite data to track subtle changes in the ground around the volcano between 2018 and 2024. They found that one part of the volcano initially sank before beginning to rise, possibly indicating that fresh magma was entering a deep reservoir. Meanwhile, the ground around its active Santiago crater and lava lake continued to sink, suggesting that a separate, shallower magma reservoir was behaving differently.
The findings, published in Geophysical Research Letters , could help scientists better understand how magma moves beneath the volcano and improve long-term monitoring of volcanic hazards.
