Volcanology 2020: Will Remote Sensing Of Volcanic Activity Continue To Evolve In The Next Decade?

Over the past decade optical and thermal satellite-based observations of volcanic activity have evolved dramatically. Prior to 2000, most studies focused on technique development and/or concentrated on a single image of a particular volcano. Although these investigations laid the groundwork for the current research, they were commonly limited in scope or constrained by the technology of the day. Ten years ago in this AGU session we discussed the coming decade and forecast a time when geostationary satellites together with near-real time networks of low Earth orbiting satellites would be used to provide better temporal and spatial resolution data of volcanic eruptions. The focus then was on the NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) era with its new sensors, integrated payloads, and ability measure volcanic products with never before seen precision. In addition to EOS, existing sensors that were designed for weather observations were being used in innovative ways to provide high temporal resolution trends of eruptions, critical for hazard response planning and scientific modeling. Analyzing, processing and storing the vast amounts of digital data were also seen as important issues to overcome. Looking back over the past decade, we see that these networks of orbital sensors have indeed been used with great success by numerous investigators to track the eruptions of Mt. Etna (2001), Mt. St. Helens (2004), Merapi (2006), and Eyjafjallajökull (2010) for example. However, none of the current satellite sensors were designed specifically for volcanic monitoring and more importantly, many of the systems now in orbit are well past their design life time. Furthermore, the sensors that are planned do not carry the prospect of the diversity of measurements nor the varied set of observations that were realized a decade prior. The prospects for accurate volcanology from space in 2020 are therefore less clear even as the need for such observations has never been more important. However, the possibility still exists of innovative and integrated measurements between existing sensors, ground-based geophysical networks, and several planned missions to conduct volcano monitoring and science from orbit. These networks will continue to provide important and synoptic data for volcanologists over the next decade and beyond.