A volcano in Nicaragua hides two pools of hot rock deep below it. Scientists found them with six years of satellite data.
About 2 million people live within 13 miles of Masaya. It sits near Managua, the capital of Nicaragua.
Masaya sits in a national park. Tourists come to peer into its glowing lava lake.
A Penn State team tracked the ground from 2018 to 2024. It used data from the Sentinel-1 satellite.
The team used a radar method called InSAR. It spots tiny shifts in ground height, even through cloud cover.
The wide dip around the volcano sank first. Then it began to rise. That may mean fresh magma entered a deep pool.
The ground near Santiago crater kept sinking for six years. A second, shallow pool there may be losing magma.
One pool seems to fill. The other seems to drain. The pipes under Masaya are more complex than past models showed.
Masaya lets out sulfur dioxide gas all the time. It can reach levels that harm health, even with no eruption.
The researchers found no sign of near-term danger. The ground moves do not mean an eruption is near.
First, scientists need a baseline, the normal pattern of a volcano. Then stray moves can flag a change.
Tap to read the full story in plain words. Learn how two hidden pools change what we know about Masaya.
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