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The application of high resolution (2m) EarthDEM and ArcticDEM digital elevation models to detect and quantify volcanic activity: successes and challenges

Federico Galetto1, Sadé M. Miller2, Alina V. Shevchenko3, Rose Barris1, Matthew E. Pritchard1

  • Affiliations:  1 Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Department, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA; 2 Department of Geography & Anthropology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA; 3 German Research Centre for Geosciences GFZ, Potsdam, Germany 

  • Presentation type: Poster

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

  • Poster Board Number: 170

  • Programme No: 3.5.29

  • Theme 3 > Session 5

Abstract

Quantifying topographic changes in volcanoes provides important information about volcanic activity, which can also be used in forecasting future volcanic hazards. EarthDEM and ArcticDEM are Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) derived from Maxar satellites stereo-optical data. These DEMs allow for potential global volcanic monitoring of topography at a high resolution (2m) but have not frequently been used to study volcanoes so far. We used these DEMs to detect and quantify volcanic activity, as well as to show the successes and challenges of using this data. We studied >10 volcanoes, ranging from equatorial to polar environments placed in Indonesia; Galápagos (Ecuador); Kamchatka (Russia); Alaska and Aleutian (USA). These volcanoes experienced different volcanic eruptions that generated a wide range of volcanic deposits (lava flows and domes, pyroclastic density currents, lahars) and mass-wasting or erosional features. The high resolution of these DEMs allowed us to detect many topographic changes not visible with lower resolution DEMs, also in difficult environmental conditions (e.g. snow covers). Cloudless, artifact-free DEM data were most successful for quantifying height changes and volumes, also in small and narrow regions (e.g. channels). The only limit to detect height changes is when they are in the range of vertical data errors (1-2m). Our results demonstrate the value of EarthDEM and ArcticDEM in detecting and quantifying unique signals related to volcanic activity in different environments. If these high resolution DEMs become more frequently acquired in space and time, they could significantly improve our ability to develop time-series of volcano topographic changes worldwide.