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A "Land to Sea" global morphometric database of volcanic islands

Elisa Klein1 , Emma Hadré2, Sebastian Krastel2, Felix Gross2,3, Morelia Urlaub1

  • Affiliations: 1RD4, GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research, Kiel, Germany; 2Institute of Geosciences, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany; 3Center for Ocean and Society, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany

  • Presentation type: Poster

  • Presentation time: Thursday 16:30 - 18:30, Room Poster Hall

  • Poster Board Number: 165

  • Programme No: 2.2.29

  • Theme 2 > Session 2

Abstract

Volcanic islands, marine and coastal volcanos pose the potential threat of volcanogenic tsunamis through explosive eruptions or mass wasting events. These are difficult to predict and grant little reaction time, while affecting coastal communities beyond the immediate proximity of the volcano. It is therefore important to find factors contributing to volcanic flank collapse before the event occurs and thus identify potentially hazardous volcanos. However, only a maximum of 10% of the volume of any volcanic island is exposed above sea level and can thus be monitored directly by satellites. While some volcanic islands have been studied extensively both on- and offshore, low-resolution (~500 m) bathymetric DEMs based on satellite altimetry are often the only available information about the seafloor morphology in less well studied areas. Here, we generate and analyse a global morphometric database of 200 volcanic islands selected from the Quaternary volcanic database of the Global Volcanism Program (GVP). The morphology is characterised by more than 20 parameters defining size, shape and asymmetry, in order to quantify correlations between the geomorphology and potential for tsunamigenic mass wasting events. For our analysis, we use the composite bathymetric DEM of the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) below and TANDEM-X 30m EGM above sea level, and the newly developed VolcPackage software for the edifice delineation and extraction of morphometric parameters. Our results will help to better understand morphological control on volcanic instability. Additionally, the database will be freely available and can be used for a variety of future research questions.