Project Team: Andes Mountains Disasters Team
Team Location: NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama
This image depicts high levels of sulfur dioxide from Copahue during Oct. 6-7, 2014, volcanic activity reported by the Buenos Aires Volcanic Ash Advisory Center. Image Credit: Andes Mountains Disasters Team.
Authors:
Alla Skaskevych
Stephanie De Bedout
Beth Clifton
Mentors/Advisors:
Dr. Jeff Luvall (NASA, Global Climatology and Hydrology Center)
Eric Anderson (NASA SERVIR)
Past/Other Contributors:
Amanda Weigel (DEVELOP)
Amberle Keith (DEVELOP)
Jonathan Rivas (DEVELOP)
Abstract:
The Copahue volcano is located on the Andes Mountain chain, on the border between Chile and Argentina in South America. It is an active volcano and its last known eruption was on July 4, 2014. Both Chile and Argentina have towns and villages in close proximity to the volcano, including economically vital resort areas. A paroxysmic eruption of this volcano may be devastating because of the potential volcanic ash, pyroclastic flows, lava flows, lahars, or deformation of the surface area. Both countries have issued evacuations when there have been eruptions in the past, though their citizens were hesitant to leave their property and livestock behind. Although there are towns in the vicinity of this volcano, it is located far enough from major urban areas that it is remote and hard to access for constant monitoring. The Chilean government has a Volcano Monitoring Branch (SERNAGEOMIN) which uses cameras set up on the base of the volcano to measure different forms of volcanic activity, such as the frequency of plume activity, plume height and color, and the amount of ash venting from the area. In addition to the physical observations, they track the frequency and strength of earthquakes in the area and gather some satellite imagery. SERNAGEOMIN has implemented a ranking alert system to indicate how active the volcano is becoming and when it would be wise to evacuate. Currently, Copahue is the only active volcano in the Southern Andes which has been indicated as a yellow, meaning that the volcano is on high alert and being monitored, while all other volcanoes in the region are classified as green. However, this monitoring method is in need of an enhanced methodology to monitor and identify areas at risk of volcanic activity. Remote sensing techniques can aid in the monitoring of other indicators of volcanic activity, such as thermal anomalies both on land surface area and water, sulfur dioxide emissions, and land cover. This project investigates remote-processing software options to aid in this monitoring. Data from Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS), Terra Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and Aura Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) were processed using ArcGIS and ENVI software to derive daily maps of land and water surface temperature variability, and sulfur dioxide emissions. By gathering this data and developing the methodology and techniques to monitor the volcano diurnal with NASA Earth observations, this project provided the end-users with novel decision-making and disaster preparation and recovery tools.