V14B-05
The potential for synthesizing multi-sensor remote sensing data for global volcano monitoring
Monday, 14 December 2015: 17:00
308 (Moscone South)
Maria Furtney1, Matthew E. Pritchard2, Simon A Carn3, Brendan McCormick4, Susanna K Ebmeier5 and Jennifer Jay4, (1)Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States, (2)Cornell University, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Ithaca, NY, United States, (3)Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, United States, (4)National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution,, Department of Mineral Science, Washington, DC, United States, (5)University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
Abstract:
Volcanoes exhibit variable eruption frequencies and styles, from near-continuous eruptions of effusive lavas to more intermittent, explosive eruptions. The monitoring frequency necessary to capture precursory signals at any volcano remains uncertain, as some warnings allot hours for evacuation. Likewise, no precursory signal appears deterministic for each volcano. Volcanic activity manifests in a variety of ways (i.e. tremor, deformation), thus requiring multiple monitoring mechanisms (i.e. geodetic, geochemical, geothermal). We are developing databases to compare relationships among remotely sensed volcanic unrest signals and eruptions. Satellite remote sensing utilizes frequent temporal measurements (daily to bi-weekly), an essential component of worldwide volcano monitoring. Remote sensing methods are also capable of detecting diverse precursory signals such as ground deformation from satellite interferometric synthetic aperture radar—InSAR— (multiple space agencies), degassing from satellite spectroscopy (i.e. OMI SO2 from NASA), and hot spots from thermal infrared (i.e. MODIS from NASA). We present preliminary results from seven SAR satellites and two thermal infrared satellites for 24 volcanoes with prominent SO2 emissions. We find near-continuous emissions at Ibu (Indonesia) since 2008 corresponded with hotspots and 10 cm of subsidence, with degassing and comparable subsidence observed at Pagan (Marianas). A newcomer to volcano monitoring, remote sensing data are only beginning to be utilized on a global scale, let alone as a synthesized dataset for monitoring developing eruptions. We foresee a searchable tool for rapidly accessing basic volcanic unrest characteristics for different types of volcanoes and whether or not they resulted in eruption. By including data from multiple satellite sensors in our database we hope to develop quantitative assessments for calculating the likelihood of eruption from individual events.
