Implementation of Robust Satellite Techniques for Volcanoes on ASTER Data under the Google Earth Engine Platform

Nicola Genzano,Valerio Tramutoli,Marco Neri,Nicola Pergola,Francesco Marchese

doi:10.3390/app11094201

Abstract

The RST (Robust Satellite Techniques) approach is a multi-temporal scheme of satellite data analysis widely used to investigate and monitor thermal volcanic activity from space through high temporal resolution data from sensors such as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI). In this work, we present the results of the preliminary RST algorithm implementation to thermal infrared (TIR) data, at 90 m spatial resolution, from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER). Results achieved under the Google Earth Engine (GEE) environment, by analyzing 20 years of satellite observations over three active volcanoes (i.e., Etna, Shishaldin and Shinmoedake) located in different geographic areas, show that the RST-based system, hereafter named RASTer, detected a higher (around 25% more) number of thermal anomalies than the well-established ASTER Volcano Archive (AVA). Despite the availability of a less populated dataset than other sensors, the RST implementation on ASTER data guarantees an efficient identification and mapping of volcanic thermal features even of a low intensity level. To improve the temporal continuity of the active volcanoes monitoring, the possibility of exploiting RASTer is here addressed, in the perspective of an operational multi-satellite observing system. The latter could include mid-high spatial resolution satellite data (e.g., Sentinel-2/MSI, Landsat-8/OLI), as well as those at higher-temporal (lower-spatial) resolution (e.g., EOS/MODIS, Suomi-NPP/VIIRS, Sentinel-3/SLSTR), for which RASTer could provide useful algorithm’s validation and training dataset.

Highlights

Several studies have shown the relevant contribution of satellite systems for investigating and monitoring active volcanoes, in areas where ground-based devices are fully operational (e.g., [1,2,3,4])
Each ASTER scene covers an area of 60 × 60 km; the spatial resolution ranges from 15 m (VNIR) to 90 m (TIR)
We presented and tested an Robust Satellite Techniques (RST)-based algorithm to identify and map volcanic thermal features through ASTER thermal infrared (TIR) data, processed under the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform

Summary

Introduction

Several studies have shown the relevant contribution of satellite systems for investigating and monitoring active volcanoes, in areas where ground-based devices are fully operational (e.g., [1,2,3,4]) Those systems are capable of providing information about changes of thermal volcanic activity leading to eruptions and of estimating the radiant flux and the mass eruption rate (e.g., [5,6]). They enable the identification of thermal anomalies associated with hot degassing. MODVOLC provides information about thermal anomalies in terms of hotspot pixel number, total MIR radiance and radiant flux, in both nighttime and daytime conditions [8,9]

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion