Remote Sensing Studies of Kilauea volcano, Hawaii, as an Aid to Understanding Volcanic Processes on Mars, Venus and Io

By virtue of the near-continuous activity, relatively safety of the eruptions, and excellent field access within a U.S. National Park, extensive testing of new field, airborne and orbital remote sensing data sets has taken place at Kilauea, Hawaii, over the last 20 years. Here I review the important role that such studies of Kilauea have had in understanding volcano morphology and eruption processes on Mars, Venus and Io. Many types of remote sensing data have been collected over Kilauea that have direct planetary analogs. Two space shuttle radar missions (SIR-B and SIR-C) had Kilauea as a primary target, and there have been three deployments of the TOPSAR airborne radar (1993, 1996, and 2000) to Hawaii. These data have been used to understand the radar scattering properties of lava flows on Venus, as well as assessing the importance of multi-incidence angle and look-direction radar data for structural mapping. Topographic mapping of Kilauea caldera by an airborne lidar was conducted at 1 m/pixel in 2004 to facilitate the analysis of the topography of lava flows, vents and fractures at a scale that is not possible using MOLA data for Mars, but may be relevant when data are studied from the Mars Express stereo camera or the HiRISE instrument on MRO. Thermal studies of active lava flows and the Kupianaha lava lake provide insights into effusive volcanism on Io. Not only can the dynamics of Ionian lava lakes (e.g., Loki Patera) be studied, but also on-going work with MODIS and GOES satellite data for Kilauea are being used to understand lava flow and vent dynamics as they may relate to the resurfacing mechanism(s) of Io. Comparison of data acquisition for on-going Mars missions and Kilauea also show similarities in the approach to planetary and terrestrial volcanology. Systematic imaging of Kilauea volcano at increasingly high spatial resolution (for both multispectral and topographic mapping) continues to be of value for planetary analogs and technique development. Multispectral image data for Kilauea were first concentrated around the summit area, and MOC data were initially targeted for caldera floor and walls of Martian calderas. Now, high resolution (<10 m/pixel) data have been collected for almost all of Kilauea, and comparable data for all of Olympus and Ascraeus Montes calderas have been obtained by THEMIS VIS instrument. Extensive THEMIS coverage for the flanks of these and other Martian volcanoes is now revealing valuable information on the structure of the Martian shield volcanoes and the diversity of lava flows, thereby justifying a closer comparison with volcanic landscapes seen in the field in Hawaii.