Assessment and improvement of a robust satellite technique (RST) for thermal monitoring of volcanoes

• Published in: Remote sensing of environment Vol. 115; no. 6; pp. 1556 - 1563
• Main Authors: Marchese, F., Filizzola, C., Genzano, N., Mazzeo, G., Pergola, N., Tramutoli, V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 15-06-2011; Elsevier
• Subjects: Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied geophysics; Assessments; Biological and medical sciences; Data processing; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects. Techniques; Hazard mitigation; Hot spots; Internal geophysics; Monitoring; Monitors; NOAA-AVHRR; Robust satellite technique; Satellites; Teledetection and vegetation maps; Thermal monitoring; Volcanoes; Robust satellite technique; NOAA-AVHRR; Thermal monitoring; Volcanoes; atmosphere; NOAA satellite; Night; Information; volcanic zones; Result; evaluation; 2008; Improvement; 1995; optimization; Thermal phenomenon; high resolution; Validation; Data analysis; Ground based measurement; Visual observation; volcanoes; monitoring; Long term; Geographic distribution; techniques; hot spots; Day; Multidate observation
• ISSN: 0034-4257; 1879-0704
• DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2011.02.014

The RST approach (robust satellite technique) is a multi-temporal scheme of satellite data analysis already successfully used to monitor volcanoes at different geographic locations. In this work, the results of a long-term validation analysis of RST-based hot spot products are presented. This study was performed processing fourteen years of NOAA-AVHRR (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer) records acquired over Mt. Etna area between 1 January 1995 and 31 December 2008, at different overpass times (day/night), and analyzing hundreds of volcano bulletins reporting information on Mt. Etna eruptive activity, provided by visual observations and ground-based measurements. An optimized configuration of the RST approach, named RST
VOLC, is also, for the first time, presented and discussed here. This method, thanks to a better tradeoff between reliability and sensitivity, may be particularly suitable to support operational systems for volcano monitoring and hazard mitigation.
► A new, RST-based technique (RST
VOLC) for volcanic hot spot detection is presented. ► A long term validation analysis (14
years) of RST
VOLC hot spot products is discussed. ► A comparison with standard RST approach is carried out. ► Improvements in tradeoff between reliability and sensitivity are evaluated. ► Advantages for pre-eruptive thermal anomaly identification are discussed.