Thermal Monitoring of Volcanic Activity may Yield Early Warning System

Thermal monitoring of volcanic activity at Africa's Nyiragongo lava lake, accompanied by satellite data, is a combined technique used by researchers that may help detect eruptions and possibly lead to an early warning system for locals.

An international team of researchers compared data from the Spinning Enhanced Visible and InfraRed Imager (SEVIRI) on board Meteosat - a satellite 36,000 kilometers from Earth - with data collected at the lava lake using thermal cameras.

The research, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, and conducted at Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of Congo, can yield data important for modeling shallow volcanic systems in general, but more importantly can lead to advance warning of eruptions for the rapidly expanding city of Goma nearby.

Dr. Gaetana Ganci, one of the researchers, and her colleagues developed an algorithm they call HOTSAT to detect thermal anomalies in the Earth's surface temperature linked to volcanoes. They calculate the amount of heat energy being emitted in a target area based on analysis of SEVIRI images.

Combining SEVIRI images with more detailed ones from NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), they showed that temperature anomalies could be observed from space before an eruption is underway.

"Satellite data are a precious means to improve the understanding of volcanic processes. There are cases of thermal anomalies being observed in volcanic areas just before an eruption," Ganci said in a statement. "Combining different kinds of data from the ground and from space would be the optimal condition."

Researchers are currently developing a new version of HOTSTAT that hopefully will provide SEVIRI images in near real-time.

"This study shows the range of science that can be done with Meteosat," added Dr. Marianne Koenig, manager for the Meteosat Second Generation satellites. "And opens up the possibility of monitoring isolated volcanoes."