Remote Sensing Of Volcanoes And Volcanic Processes

This volume focuses on how advances in both remote sensing and modelling can be brought together to improve our understanding of the behaviour of active volcanoes. It includes review papers, papers reporting technical advances and case studies showing how the integration of remote-sensing observations with models can be put to good use.

Remote sensing data and methods are increasingly being implemented in assessments of volcanic processes and risk. This happens thanks to their capability to provide a spectrum of observation and measurement opportunities to accurately sense the dynamics, magnitude, frequency, and impacts of volcanic activity. This book includes research papers on the use of satellite, aerial, and ground-based remote sensing to detect thermal features and anomalies, investigate lava and pyroclastic flows, predict the flow path of lahars, measure gas emissions and plumes, and estimate ground deformation. The multi-disciplinary character of the approaches employed for volcano monitoring and the combination of a variety of sensor types, platforms, and methods that come out from the papers testify to the current scientific and technology trends toward multi-data and multi-sensor monitoring solutions. The added value of the papers lies in the demonstration of how remote sensing can improve our knowledge of volcanoes that pose a threat to local communities; back-analysis and critical revision of recent volcanic eruptions and unrest periods; and improvement of modeling and prediction methods. Therefore, the selected case studies also demonstrate the societal impact that this scientific discipline can potentially have on volcanic hazard and risk management.

Remote sensing data and methods are increasingly being implemented in assessments of volcanic processes and risk. This happens thanks to their capability to provide a spectrum of observation and measurement opportunities to accurately sense the dynamics, magnitude, frequency, and impacts of volcanic activity. This book includes research papers on the use of satellite, aerial, and ground-based remote sensing to detect thermal features and anomalies, investigate lava and pyroclastic flows, predict the flow path of lahars, measure gas emissions and plumes, and estimate ground deformation. The multi-disciplinary character of the approaches employed for volcano monitoring and the combination of a variety of sensor types, platforms, and methods that come out from the papers testify to the current scientific and technology trends toward multi-data and multi-sensor monitoring solutions. The added value of the papers lies in the demonstration of how remote sensing can improve our knowledge of volcanoes that pose a threat to local communities; back-analysis and critical revision of recent volcanic eruptions and unrest periods; and improvement of modeling and prediction methods. Therefore, the selected case studies also demonstrate the societal impact that this scientific discipline can potentially have on volcanic hazard and risk management.

The monitoring of active volcanoes is a complex task based on multidisciplinary and integrated analyses that use ground, drones and satellite monitoring devices. Over time, and with the development of new technologies and increasing frequency of acquisition, the use of remote sensing to accomplish this important task has grown enormously. This is especially so with the use of drones and satellites for classifying eruptive events and detecting the opening of new vents, the spreading of lava flows on the surface or ash plumes in the atmosphere, the fallout of tephra on the ground, the intrusion of new magma within the volcano edifice, and the deformation preceding impending eruptions, and many other factors. The main challenge in using remote sensing techniques is to develop automated and reliable systems that may assist the decision maker in volcano monitoring, hazard assessment and risk reduction. The integration with ground-based techniques represents a valuable additional aspect that makes the proposed methods more robust and reinforces the results obtained. This collection of papers is focused on several active volcanoes, such as Stromboli, Etna, and Volcano in Italy; the Long Valley caldera and Kilauea volcano in the USA; and Cotopaxi in Ecuador.

Volcanoes release plumes of gas and ash to the atmosphere during episodes of passive and explosive behavior. These ejecta have important implications for the chemistry and composition of the troposphere and stratosphere, with the capacity to alter Earth's radiation budget and climate system over a range of temporal and spatial scales. Volcanogenic sulphur dioxide reacts to form sulphate aerosols, which increase global albedo, e.g., by reducing surface temperatures, in addition to perturbing the formation processes and optical properties of clouds. Released halogen species can also deplete stratospheric and tropospheric ozone. Volcanic degassing, furthermore, played a key role in the formation of Earth’s atmosphere, and volcanic plumes can affect air quality, pose hazards to aviation and human health, as well as damage ecosystems. The chemical compositions and emission rates of volcanic plumes are also monitored via a range of direct-sampling and remote-sensing instrumentation, in order to gain insights into subterranean processes, in the respect of the magmatic bodies these volatiles exsolve from. Given the significant role these gases play in driving volcanic activity, e.g., via pressurisation, the study of volcanic plumes is proving to be an increasingly fruitful means of improving our understanding of volcanic systems, potentially in concert with observations from geophysics and contributions from fluid dynamical modelling of conduit dynamics. This Special Issue is aimed at presenting the state of the art of the multidisciplinary science concerning all aspects of volcanic plumes, of relevance to the volcanology, climatology, atmospheric science, and remote sensing communities.

Remote sensing of volcanic activity is an increasingly important tool for scientific investigation, hazard mitigation, and geophysical analysis. These studies were conducted to determine how combining remote sensing data in a multi-sensor analysis can improve our understanding of volcanic activity, depositional behavior, and the evolutionary history of past eruptive episodes. In a series of three studies, (1) optical photogrammetry and synthetic aperture radar are combined to determine volumes of lahars and lava dome growth at Redoubt Volcano, Alaska; (2) applied data from multiple synthetic aperture radar platforms are combined to model long-term deposition of pyroclastic flow deposits, including past deposits underlying current, observable pyroclastic flow deposits at Augustine Volcano, Alaska; and finally (3) combined, low-spatial-resolution thermal data from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer sensors are combined with high resolution digital elevation models derived from the microwave TanDEM-X mission, to increase the accuracy of eruption profiles and effusion rates at Tolbachik Volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russian Far East. As a result of this study, the very diverse capabilities of multiple remote sensing instruments were combined to improve the understanding of volcanic processes at three separate locations with recent eruptive activity, and to develop new methods of measurement and estimation by merging the capabilities of optical, thermal, and microwave observations. With the multi-sensor frameworks developed in this study now in place, future efforts should focus on increasing the diversity of sensor types in joint analyses, with the objective of obtaining better solutions to geophysical questions.

Encapsulating over one hundred years of research developments, this book is a comprehensive manual for measurements of Earth surface temperatures and heat fluxes, enabling better detection and measurement of volcanic activity. With a particular focus on volcanic hot spots, the book explores methodologies and principles used with satellite-, radiometer- and thermal-camera data. It presents traditional applications using satellite and ground based sensors as well as modern applications that have evolved for use with hand-held thermal cameras and is fully illustrated with case studies, databases and worked examples. Chapter topics include techniques for thermal mixture modelling and heat flux derivation, and methods for data collection, mapping and time-series generation. Appendices and online supplements present additional specific notes on areas of sensor application and data processing, supported by an extensive reference list. This book is an invaluable resource for academic researchers and graduate students in thermal remote sensing, volcanology, geophysics and planetary studies.