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Facilitating satellite monitoring of unrest and eruptions through global cooperation between space agencies and volcanologists: The GVEWERS project

Michael Poland 1, Susi Ebmeier2, Juliet Biggs3, Matt Pritchard4, Marco Bagnardi1

  • Affiliations: 1U.S. Geological Survey, Cascades Volcano Observatory, Vancouver, WA, USA; 2School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, U.K.; 3School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, U.K.; 4Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA 

  • Presentation type: Poster

  • Presentation time: Friday 16:30 - 18:00, Room Poster Hall

  • Poster Board Number: 34

  • Programme No: 2.3.20

  • Theme 2 > Session 3

Abstract

The Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) Working Group on Disasters has coordinated several projects to support volcano disaster risk management. These efforts have specifically focused on the accessibility, at no cost, of high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and optical datasets, which are often only available via commercial purchases or limited research grants. During 2014--2017, the Volcano Pilot project focused on assessing the feasibility of integrated, systematic, and sustained monitoring of volcanoes in Central and South America using space-based observations. Multiple space agencies provided quotas of SAR and high-resolution optical satellite data, enabling regional volcano observatories to use otherwise poorly accessible imagery for volcano surveillance. The successful pilot project was followed by the Volcano Demonstrator project (2019--2023) that expanded the scope of the work to Southeast Asia and Africa. In 2023, CEOS approved the Global Volcano Early Warning and Eruption Response from Space (GVEWERS) initiative---a permanent and sustainable partnership among international space agencies, academic institutions, and volcano observatories, with the goal of coordinating the acquisition, access, and utilization of satellite data to support volcano monitoring worldwide. The project emphasizes free and low-latency access to satellite datasets that are critical for forecasting, detecting, and tracking volcanic activity, and for mitigating associated hazards around the world by providing early warning of potential eruption impacts---for example, unrest at Fentale, Ethiopia, in 2024. Support from the global volcanology community is critical to the success of GVEWERS, and international participation is invited.