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Remote Observation of Volcanic Emissions and Their Impacts on the Atmosphere, Biosphere and Environment

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A special issue of Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Remote Sensing".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 November 2023) | Viewed by 16241

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Pasquale Sellitto

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Laboratoire Interuniversitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques (LISA), Université Paris-Est Créteil (UPEC), Créteil, France
Interests: atmospheric aerosols; volcanic plumes; atmospheric radiative transfer; spectroscopy; remote sensing of the atmosphere
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Giuseppe Salerno

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Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Osservatorio Etneo, Catania, Italy
Interests: volcanology; eruptive mechanism and dynamics; remote observation of magmatic degassing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Letizia Spampinato

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Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Osservatorio Etneo, Catania, Italy
Interests: volcanology; volcano eruption dynamics; thermal remote sensing

Dr. Salvatore Giammanco

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Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Osservatorio Etneo, Catania, Italy
Interests: geochemistry; volcanology; geothermal; geostatistics

Dr. Chiara Giorio

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Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Interests: atmospheric chemistry; analytical chemistry; environmental sciences; paleoclimate; chemometrics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Volcanic eruptions are complex time-dependent events with impacts that can extend at different spatial and temporal scales. In the last few decades, the space- and ground-based observation of volcanic phenomena has proved an essential and promising tool for investigating and monitoring volcanic systems and their impact on the atmosphere, the biosphere, and the overall environment. Reliable volcano monitoring, targeting the onset of eruptions, consists of multiparametric approaches as the mainstay of most volcano surveillance programs. Over the years, remote sensing technology advances and know-how have led to improvement of both the availability and the quality of the observations, thus allowing better recognition of precursors of eruption onset and better assessment of volcanic activity. Indeed, better assessment of the ongoing volcano phenomena has permitted an evaluation of the associated hazards and their impact on the environment and society. Volcanic plumes, once produced from crater gas and particulate emissions, can disperse in the Earth’s atmosphere and impact air quality (more than 8% of the world population lives within a 100 km radius from an active volcano), cloud formation, and radiative balance/climate at different spatial–temporal scales. Depending on the atmospheric conditions, volcanic plumes can travel from close-range to global distances, while undergoing chemical and microphysical changes. The remote observation of the dispersion/evolution of volcanic plumes is key to understanding their downwind impacts, from local-to-regional air quality degradation, which can impact the environment and the public health for populations living in the proximity of an active volcano, to regional-to-global direct and indirect climate impacts.

This Special Issue aims at presenting the state of the art of and recent advancements in volcano remote sensing, as well as multidisciplinary volcano studies coming from the exploitation of these remote sensing methodologies, with a special focus on volcanic emissions and dispersing/evolving plumes, and the impacts of volcanic pollutants on the atmosphere, the biosphere, and the environment.

We invite you to submit your manuscripts on all remote sensing techniques based on passive and active sensors, satellite and ground-based instruments, microwave, infrared, and solar spectral ranges. Synergistic approaches, including multiple coordinated techniques, are particularly welcome, as well as combinations of remote sensing techniques with in situ measurements, modeling of plume dispersion/evolution, and modeling of the impacts of volcanic emissions, including effects on human health. Both research articles and reviews will be considered for publication.

Dr. Pasquale Sellitto
Dr. Giuseppe Salerno
Dr. Letizia Spampinato
Dr. Salvatore Giammanco
Dr. Chiara Giorio
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Remote Sensing is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Volcanic plumes
Volcanic aerosols
Natural atmospheric pollutants
Air quality
Radiative forcing (direct and indirect effect)
Volcanic hazard

Published Papers (8 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 3890 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Deep Convolutional Neural Network for Detecting Volcanic Thermal Anomalies from Satellite Images

by Eleonora Amato, Claudia Corradino, Federica Torrisi and Ciro Del Negro

Remote Sens. 2023, 15(15), 3718; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs15153718 - 25 Jul 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1549

Abstract

The latest generation of high-spatial-resolution satellites produces measurements of high-temperature volcanic features at global scale, which are valuable to monitor volcanic activity. Recent advances in technology and increased computational resources have resulted in an extraordinary amount of monitoring data, which can no longer be so readily examined. Here, we present an automatic detection algorithm based on a deep convolutional neural network (CNN) that uses infrared satellite data to automatically determine the presence of volcanic thermal activity. We exploit the potentiality of the transfer learning technique to retrain a pre-trained SqueezeNet CNN to a new domain. We fine-tune the weights of the network over a new dataset opportunely created with images related to thermal anomalies of different active volcanoes around the world. Furthermore, an ensemble approach is employed to enhance accuracy and robustness when compared to using individual models. We chose a balanced training dataset with two classes, one containing volcanic thermal anomalies (erupting volcanoes) and the other containing no thermal anomalies (non-erupting volcanoes), to differentiate between volcanic scenes with eruptive and non-eruptive activity. We used satellite images acquired in the infrared bands by ESA Sentinel-2 Multispectral Instrument (MSI) and NASA & USGS Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager and Thermal InfraRed Sensor (OLI/TIRS). This deep learning approach makes the model capable of identifying the appearance of a volcanic thermal anomaly in the images belonging to the volcanic domain with an overall accuracy of 98.3%, recognizing the scene with active flows and erupting vents (i.e., eruptive activity) and the volcanoes at rest. This model is generalizable, and has the capability to analyze every image captured by these satellites over volcanoes around the world. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Observation of Volcanic Emissions and Their Impacts on the Atmosphere, Biosphere and Environment)

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Figure 1

18 pages, 5157 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Automatic Early Warning to Derive Eruption Source Parameters of Paroxysmal Activity at Mt. Etna (Italy)

by Luigi Mereu, Frank Silvio Marzano, Costanza Bonadonna, Giorgio Lacanna, Maurizio Ripepe and Simona Scollo

Remote Sens. 2023, 15(14), 3501; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs15143501 - 12 Jul 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 928

Abstract

Tephra dispersal and fallout resulting from explosive activity of Mt. Etna (Italy) represent a significant threat to the surrounding inhabited areas as well as to aviation operations. An early-warning system aimed at foreseeing the onset of paroxysmal activity has been developed, combining a thermal infrared camera, infrasonic network, and a weather radar. In this way, it is possible to identify the onset of a lava fountain as well as to determine the associated mass eruption rate (MER) and top plume height (H_TP). The new methodology, defined as the paroxysmal early-warning (PEW) alert system, is based on the analysis of some explosive eruptions that occurred between 2011 and 2021 at Etna, simultaneously observed by the thermal camera and infrasound systems dislocated around the summit eruptive craters, and by the weather radar, located at about 32 km from the summit craters. This work represents an important step towards the mitigation of the potential impact associated with the tephra dispersal and fallout during paroxysms at Etna, which can be applied to other volcanoes with similar activity and monitoring strategies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Observation of Volcanic Emissions and Their Impacts on the Atmosphere, Biosphere and Environment)

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Figure 1

17 pages, 8429 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Diffusion Height and Order of Sulfur Dioxide and Bromine Monoxide Plumes from the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’apai Volcanic Eruption

by Qidi Li, Yuanyuan Qian, Yuhan Luo, Le Cao, Haijin Zhou, Taiping Yang, Fuqi Si and Wenqing Liu

Remote Sens. 2023, 15(6), 1534; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs15061534 - 10 Mar 2023

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1687

Abstract

A violent volcanic eruption attracting considerable attention occurred on 15 January 2022 near the South Pacific island nation of Tonga. To investigate its environmental impact, we retrieved the sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and bromine monoxide (BrO) vertical column densities of environmental trace gas monitoring instrument 2 (EMI-2) based on the differential optical absorption spectroscopy algorithm. The results showed westward and southeastward transport of principal parts of SO₂ and BrO plumes, respectively, from the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’apai (HTHH) eruption. On 15 January, most of the released SO₂ entered the stratosphere (above 20 km) directly and spread rapidly westward (approximately 30 m/s). In contrast, the principal portion of the BrO spread southeastward slowly (approximately 10 m/s) within the 8–15 km altitude layer on 16 January. Our research results also suggest that during the HTHH eruption, BrO was released from the magmatic melt later than SO₂. The total SO₂ emissions from this eruption were approximately 0.24 Tg. The majority of SO₂ and BrO plumes were transported within the Southern Hemisphere. This study is an important extension to the empirical database of volcanological and magmatic degassing research. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Observation of Volcanic Emissions and Their Impacts on the Atmosphere, Biosphere and Environment)

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22 pages, 11398 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Impact of SO₂ Flux Estimation in the Modeling of the Plume of Mount Etna Christmas 2018 Eruption and Comparison against Multiple Satellite Sensors

by Claire Lamotte, Virginie Marécal, Jonathan Guth, Giuseppe Salerno, Stefano Corradini, Nicolas Theys, Simon Warnach, Lorenzo Guerrieri, Hugues Brenot, Thomas Wagner and Mickaël Bacles

Remote Sens. 2023, 15(3), 758; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs15030758 - 28 Jan 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1467

Abstract

In this study, we focus on the eruption of Mount Etna on Christmas 2018, which emitted great amounts of

S O_{2}

from 24th to 30th December into the free troposphere. Simulations based on two different estimations of

S O_{2}

emission fluxes [...] Read more.

In this study, we focus on the eruption of Mount Etna on Christmas 2018, which emitted great amounts of

S O_{2}

from 24th to 30th December into the free troposphere. Simulations based on two different estimations of

S O_{2}

emission fluxes are conducted with the chemistry-transport model MOCAGE in order to study the impact of these estimations on the volcanic plume modeling. The two flux emissions used are retrieved (1) from the ground-based network FLAME, located on the flank of the volcano, and (2) from the spaceborne instrument SEVIRI onboard the geostationary satellite MSG. Multiple spaceborne observations, in the infrared and ultraviolet bands, are used to evaluate the model results. Overall, the model results match well with the plume location over the period of the eruption showing the good transport of the volcanic plume by the model, which is linked to the use of a realistic estimation of the altitude of injection of the emissions. However, there are some discrepancies in the plume concentrations of

S O_{2}

between the two simulations, which are due to the differences between the two emission flux estimations used that are large on some of the days. These differences are linked to uncertainties in the retrieval methods and observations used to derive

S O_{2}

volcanic fluxes. We find that the uncertainties in the satellite-retrieved column of

S O_{2}

used for the evaluation of the simulations, linked to the instrument sensitivity and/or the retrieval algorithm, are sometimes nearly as large as the differences between the two simulations. This shows a limitation of the use of satellite retrievals of

S O_{2}

concentrations to quantitatively validate modeled volcanic plumes. In the paper, we also discuss approaches to improve the simulation of

S O_{2}

concentrations in volcanic plumes through model improvements and also via more advanced methods to more effectively use satellite-derived products. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Observation of Volcanic Emissions and Their Impacts on the Atmosphere, Biosphere and Environment)

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22 pages, 689 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Stratospheric Aerosol Characteristics from the 2017–2019 Volcanic Eruptions Using the SAGE III/ISS Observations

by Bomidi Lakshmi Madhavan, Rei Kudo, Madineni Venkat Ratnam, Corinna Kloss, Gwenaël Berthet and Pasquale Sellitto

Remote Sens. 2023, 15(1), 29; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs15010029 - 21 Dec 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1860

Abstract

In recent years (2017–2019), several moderate volcanic eruptions and wildfires have perturbed the stratospheric composition and concentration with distinct implications on radiative forcing and climate. The Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III instruments onboard the International Space Station (SAGE III/ISS) have been providing aerosol extinction coefficient (EC) profiles at multiple wavelengths since June 2017. In this study, a method to invert the spectral stratospheric aerosol optical depth (sAOD) or EC values from SAGE III/ISS (to retrieve the number/volume size distributions and other microphysical properties) is presented, and the sensitivity of these retrievals is evaluated. It was found that the retrievals are strongly dependent on the choices of wavelengths, which in turn determine the shapes of the calculated curves. Further, we examine the changes in stratospheric aerosol spectral behavior, size distribution properties, time evolution (growth/decay) characteristics associated with subsequent moderate volcanic eruptions, namely, Ambae (15

^{\circ}

S, 167

^{\circ}

E; April and July 2018), Raikoke (48

^{\circ}

N, 153

^{\circ}

E; June 2019), and Ulawun (5

^{\circ}

S, 151

^{\circ}

E; June and August 2019), in different spatial regions. The observational period was classified with reference to Ambae eruptions into four phases (pre-Ambae, Ambae1, Ambae2, and post-Ambae). The pre-Ambae and post-Ambe periods comprise the 2017 Canadian fires and 2019 Raikoke/Ulawun eruptions, respectively. The spectral dependence of sAOD was comparable and lowest during the pre-Ambae and Ambae1 periods in all regions. The number concentration at the principal mode radius (between 0.07 and 0.2

μ

m) was observed to be higher during the Ambae2 period over the Northern Hemisphere (NH). The rate of change (growth/decay) in the sAOD on a global scale resembled the changes in the Southern Hemisphere (SH), unlike the time-lag-associated changes in the NH. These differences could be attributed to the prevailing horizontal and vertical dispersion mechanisms in the respective regions. Lastly, the radiative forcing estimates of Ambae and Raikoke/Ulawun eruptions, as reported in recent studies, was discussed by taking clues from other major and moderate eruptions to gain insight on their role in climate change. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Observation of Volcanic Emissions and Their Impacts on the Atmosphere, Biosphere and Environment)

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10 pages, 2340 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

Volcanic Eruption of Cumbre Vieja, La Palma, Spain: A First Insight to the Particulate Matter Injected in the Troposphere

by Michaël Sicard, Carmen Córdoba-Jabonero, Africa Barreto, Ellsworth J. Welton, Cristina Gil-Díaz, Clara V. Carvajal-Pérez, Adolfo Comerón, Omaira García, Rosa García, María-Ángeles López-Cayuela, Constantino Muñoz-Porcar, Natalia Prats, Ramón Ramos, Alejandro Rodríguez-Gómez, Carlos Toledano and Carlos Torres

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(10), 2470; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs14102470 - 20 May 2022

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2624

Abstract

The volcanic eruption of Cumbre Vieja (La Palma Island, Spain), started on 19 September 2021 and was declared terminated on 25 December 2021. A complete set of aerosol measurements were deployed around the volcano within the first month of the eruptive activity. This paper describes the results of the observations made at Tazacorte on the west bank of the island where a polarized micro-pulse lidar was deployed. The analyzed two-and-a-half months (16 October–31 December) reveal that the peak height of the lowermost and strongest volcanic plume did not exceed 3 km (the mean of the hourly values is 1.43 ± 0.45 km over the whole period) and was highly variable. The peak height of the lowermost volcanic plume steadily increased until week 11 after the eruption started (and 3 weeks before its end) and started decreasing afterward. The ash mass concentration was assessed with a method based on the polarization capability of the instrument. Two days with a high ash load were selected: The ash backscatter coefficient, aerosol optical depth, and the volume and particle depolarization ratios were, respectively, 3.6 (2.4) Mm⁻¹sr⁻¹, 0.52 (0.19), 0.13 (0.07) and 0.23 (0.13) on 18 October (15 November). Considering the limitation of current remote sensing techniques to detect large-to-giant particles, the ash mass concentration on the day with the highest ash load (18 October) was estimated to have peaked in the range of 800–3200 μg m⁻³ in the lowermost layer below 2.5 km. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Observation of Volcanic Emissions and Their Impacts on the Atmosphere, Biosphere and Environment)

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12 pages, 1590 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

Photometric Observations of Aerosol Optical Properties and Emission Flux Rates of Stromboli Volcano Plume during the PEACETIME Campaign

by Pasquale Sellitto, Giuseppe Salerno, Jean-François Doussin, Sylvain Triquet, François Dulac and Karine Desboeufs

Remote Sens. 2021, 13(19), 4016; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs13194016 - 08 Oct 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1915

Abstract

The characterisation of aerosol emissions from volcanoes is a crucial step towards the assessment of their importance for regional air quality and regional-to-global climate. In this paper we present, for the first time, the characterisation of aerosol emissions of the Stromboli volcano, in terms of their optical properties and emission flux rates, carried out during the PEACETIME oceanographic campaign. Using sun-photometric observations realised during a near-ideal full plume crossing, a plume-isolated aerosol optical depth of 0.07–0.08 in the shorter-wavelength visible range, decreasing to about 0.02 in the near infrared range, was found. An Ångström exponent of 1.40

\pm

0.40 was also derived. This value may suggest the dominant presence of sulphate aerosols with a minor presence of ash. During the crossing, two separate plume sections were identified, one possibly slightly affected by ash coming from a mild explosion, and the other more likely composed of pure sulphate aerosols. Exploiting the full crossing scan of the plume, an aerosol emission flux rate of 9–13 kg/s was estimated. This value was 50% larger than for typical passively degassing volcanoes, thus pointing to the importance of mild explosions for aerosol emissions in the atmosphere. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Observation of Volcanic Emissions and Their Impacts on the Atmosphere, Biosphere and Environment)

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18 pages, 9480 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Quantitative Retrieval of Volcanic Sulphate Aerosols from IASI Observations

by Henda Guermazi, Pasquale Sellitto, Juan Cuesta, Maxim Eremenko, Mathieu Lachatre, Sylvain Mailler, Elisa Carboni, Giuseppe Salerno, Tommaso Caltabiano, Laurent Menut, Mohamed Moncef Serbaji, Farhat Rekhiss and Bernard Legras

Remote Sens. 2021, 13(9), 1808; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs13091808 - 06 May 2021

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2443

Abstract

We developed a new retrieval algorithm based on the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) observations, called AEROIASI-H2SO4, to measure the extinction and mass concentration of sulphate aerosols (binary solution droplets of sulphuric acid and water), with moderate random uncertainties (typically ∼35% total uncertainty for column mass concentration estimations). The algorithm is based on a self-adapting Tikhonov–Phillips regularization method. It is here tested over a moderate-intensity eruption of Mount Etna volcano (18 March 2012), Italy, and is used to characterise this event in terms of the spatial distribution of the retrieved plume. Comparisons with simultaneous and independent aerosol optical depth observations from MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer), SO

_{2}

plume observations from IASI and simulations with the CHIMERE chemistry/transport model show that AEROIASI-H2SO4 correctly identifies the volcanic plume horizontal morphology, thus providing crucial new information towards the study of volcanic emissions, volcanic sulphur cycle in the atmosphere, plume evolution processes, and their impacts. Insights are given on the possible spectroscopic evidence of the presence in the plume of larger-sized particles than previously reported for secondary sulphate aerosols from volcanic eruptions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Observation of Volcanic Emissions and Their Impacts on the Atmosphere, Biosphere and Environment)

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