Skip to content

Lessons Learned from a Community-Driven Workshop to Define Best Practices for Unoccupied Aerial Systems (UAS) Use in Volcanology.

Mel Rodgers1 , Fiona D'Arcy2, J. Andres Diaz3, Angie Diefenbach4, Jack Elston5, Enrica Marotta6, Brian Perttu7, Ian Schipper8, Florian Schwander9, Benoît Smets10,

  • Affiliations: 1 School of Geosciences, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA: 2 Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, McGill University, Montreal, Canada: 3NFICON Inc. Emerging Technologies/GasLab, CICANUM, University of Costa Rica, Costa Rica: 4 USGS/VDAP: 5 Black Swift Technologies LLC: 6 Osservatorio Vesuviano, INVG Napoli, 7 Massey University, University of New Zealand, New Zealand: 8 Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand: 9 NASA Ames Research Center: 10 Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Belgium.   

  • Presentation type: Talk

  • Presentation time: Monday 11:15 - 11:30, Room S150

  • Programme No: 3.1.12

  • Theme 3 > Session 1

Abstract

The use of UAS (Unoccupied Aerial Systems, a.k.a 'drones', 'UAVs') in volcanology is a thriving and fast-growing field with the potential to fill crucial gaps in our ability to collect volcanological data. Challenges are associated with such a rapidly innovating and expanding field of study. For example, specific constraints are relevant to the type of data acquisition required, country of operation, safety, and environment. Many individual research groups work this out alone and develop their best practices at an individual or discipline-specific level. Successful data acquisition relies on safely planning, permitting, preparing, and deploying UAS for volcanic research, monitoring, and disaster response. Our community would benefit from a set of best-practice recommendations based on lessons learned from across the varied sub-disciplines of volcanology. To this end, we held a workshop at IAVCEI 2023 in Rotorua, New Zealand, where we discussed challenges and real-life applications with UAS users in the volcano community. Eleven people attended in person, and 12 joined virtually over a 2-day workshop. Through a mix of guest lectures, breakout sessions, and group discussions, we explored what it takes for successful UAS missions. Discussions centered around strategies for mission success, new technologies, creating a volcano UAS community, and developing best practices for UAS in volcanology. Here, we present the findings of this workshop and the common themes that emerged from the varied discussions. We hope to bring the UAS volcanology community together and collate this information to develop a community-driven set of best practices.