Kīlauea June 27th Lava Flow Hazard Mapping and Disaster Response with UAS

Abstract:

In June of 2014, pāhoehoe lava flows from the Puʻu ʻŌʻō eruption began threatening communities and infrastructure on eastern Hawaii Island. During the subsequent declared state of emergency by Hawaii Civil Defense and temporary flight restriction by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), we used a small fixed-wing Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) to collect high spatial and temporal resolution imagery over the active flow in support of natural hazard assessment by emergency managers. Integration of our UAS into busy airspace, populated by emergency aircraft and tour helicopters, required close operational coordination with the FAA and local operators. We logged >80 hours of UAS flight operations between October 2014 and March 2015, generating a dense time-series of 4-5 cm resolution imagery and derived topographic datasets using structure from motion. These data were used to monitor flow activity, document pre- and post- lava flow damage, identify hazardous areas for first responders, and model lava flow paths in complex topography ahead of the active flow front. Turnaround times for delivered spatial data products improved from 24-48 hours at the beginning of the study to ~2-4 hours by the end. Data from this project are being incorporated into cloud computing applications to shorten delivery time and extract useful analytics regarding lava flow hazards in near real-time. The lessons learned from this event have advanced UAS integration in disaster operations in U.S. airspace and show the high potential UAS hold for natural hazards assessment and real-time emergency management.