Remote Sensing of Volcanic Processes and Risk


Book Description

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 of Volcanoes and Volcanic Processes


Book Description

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.




Volcanic Eruptions and Their Repose, Unrest, Precursors, and Timing


Book Description

Volcanic eruptions are common, with more than 50 volcanic eruptions in the United States alone in the past 31 years. These eruptions can have devastating economic and social consequences, even at great distances from the volcano. Fortunately many eruptions are preceded by unrest that can be detected using ground, airborne, and spaceborne instruments. Data from these instruments, combined with basic understanding of how volcanoes work, form the basis for forecasting eruptionsâ€"where, when, how big, how long, and the consequences. Accurate forecasts of the likelihood and magnitude of an eruption in a specified timeframe are rooted in a scientific understanding of the processes that govern the storage, ascent, and eruption of magma. Yet our understanding of volcanic systems is incomplete and biased by the limited number of volcanoes and eruption styles observed with advanced instrumentation. Volcanic Eruptions and Their Repose, Unrest, Precursors, and Timing identifies key science questions, research and observation priorities, and approaches for building a volcano science community capable of tackling them. This report presents goals for making major advances in volcano science.




Thermal Remote Sensing of Active Volcanoes


Book Description

A comprehensive manual exploring radiometry methodologies and principles used with satellite-, radiometer- and thermal-camera data, for academic researchers and graduate students.




Remote Sensing of Volcanic Processes and Risk


Book Description

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.




Volcano-Tectonic Processes


Book Description

Volcanoes have terrified and, at the same time, fascinated civilizations for thousands of years. Many aspects of volcanoes, most notably the eruptive processes and the compositional variations of magma, have been widely investigated for several decades and today constitute the core of any volcanology textbook. Nevertheless, in the last two decades, boosted by the availability of volcano monitoring data, there has been an increasing interest in the pre-eruptive processes related to the shallow accumulation and to the transfer of magma approaching the surface, as well as in the resulting structure of volcanoes. These are innovative and essential aspects of modern volcanology and, as driving volcanic unrest, their understanding also improves hazard assessment and eruption forecasting. So far, the significant progress made in unravelling these volcano-tectonic processes has not been supported by a comprehensive overview. This monograph aims at filling this gap, describing the pre-eruptive processes related to the structure, deformation and tectonics of volcanoes, at the local and regional scale, in any tectonic setting. The monograph is organized into three sections (“Fundamentals”, “Magma migration towards the surface” and “The regional perspective”), consisting of thirteen chapters that are lavishly illustrated. The reader is accompanied in a journey within the volcano factory, discovering the processes associated with the shallow accumulation of magma and its transfer towards the surface, how these control the structure of volcanoes and their activity and, ultimately, improve our ability to estimate hazard and forecast eruption. The potential readership includes any academic, researcher and upper undergraduate student interested in volcanology, magma intrusions, structural geology, tectonics, geodesy, as well as geology and geophysics in general.




Modeling Volcanic Processes


Book Description

Understanding the physical behavior of volcanoes is key to mitigating the hazards active volcanoes pose to the ever-increasing populations living nearby. The processes involved in volcanic eruptions are driven by a series of interlinked physical phenomena, and to fully understand these, volcanologists must employ various physics subdisciplines. This book provides the first advanced-level, one-stop resource examining the physics of volcanic behavior and reviewing the state-of-the-art in modeling volcanic processes. Each chapter begins by explaining simple modeling formulations and progresses to present cutting-edge research illustrated by case studies. Individual chapters cover subsurface magmatic processes through to eruption in various environments and conclude with the application of modeling to understanding the other volcanic planets of our Solar System. Providing an accessible and practical text for graduate students of physical volcanology, this book is also an important resource for researchers and professionals in the fields of volcanology, geophysics, geochemistry, petrology and natural hazards.




Volcanic Plumes


Book Description

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.




Volcanoes and the Environment


Book Description

Volcanoes and the Environment is a comprehensive and accessible text incorporating contributions from some of the world's authorities in volcanology. This book is an indispensable guide for those interested in how volcanism affects our planet's environment. It spans a wide variety of topics from geology to climatology and ecology; it also considers the economic and social impacts of volcanic activity on humans. Topics covered include how volcanoes shape the environment, their effect on the geological cycle, atmosphere and climate, impacts on health of living on active volcanoes, volcanism and early life, effects of eruptions on plant and animal life, large eruptions and mass extinctions, and the impact of volcanic disasters on the economy. This book is intended for students and researchers interested in environmental change from the fields of earth and environmental science, geography, ecology and social science. It will also interest policy makers and professionals working on natural hazards.




Volcano Deformation


Book Description

Volcanoes and eruptions are dramatic surface man telemetry and processing, and volcano-deformation ifestations of dynamic processes within the Earth, source models over the past three decades. There has mostly but not exclusively localized along the been a virtual explosion of volcano-geodesy studies boundaries of Earth's relentlessly shifting tectonic and in the modeling and interpretation of ground plates. Anyone who has witnessed volcanic activity deformation data. Nonetheless, other than selective, has to be impressed by the variety and complexity of brief summaries in journal articles and general visible eruptive phenomena. Equally complex, works on volcano-monitoring and hazards mitiga however, if not even more so, are the geophysical, tion (e. g. , UNESCO, 1972; Agnew, 1986; Scarpa geochemical, and hydrothermal processes that occur and Tilling, 1996), a modern, comprehensive treat underground - commonly undetectable by the ment of volcano geodesy and its applications was human senses - before, during, and after eruptions. non-existent, until now. Experience at volcanoes worldwide has shown that, In the mid-1990s, when Daniel Dzurisin (DZ to at volcanoes with adequate instrumental monitor friends and colleagues) was serving as the Scientist ing, nearly all eruptions are preceded and accom in-Charge of the USGS Cascades Volcano Observa panied by measurable changes in the physical and tory (CVO), I first learned of his dream to write a (or) chemical state of the volcanic system. While book on volcano geodesy.