Satellite Monitoring of Volcanoes in Near-Real Time

Dear Colleagues,

Modern Earth Observation satellites carry instruments capable of early detection and tracking of changes in the nature and intensity of volcanic activity, anywhere on Earth, at unprecedented temporal frequencies. Volcanic processes and hazards that can be quantified from orbit include the impact of lavas, pyroclastic flows, and volcanic ash and gases on the terrestrial, atmospheric, and marine environments.

Depending on platform orbits, payload characteristics, and the number of spacecraft in increasingly common satellite constellations, revisit rates for any of about 2,000 sub-aerial or shallow submarine Holocene volcanoes (those with at least one documented eruption during the last 12,000 years) can range from daily to less-than-hourly, with spatial sampling ranging from tens of kilometers to sub-meters, where  the volcanic process under investigation dictates which spatial, spectral, and temporal resolution is most appropriate.

Current satellite sensors allow the detection, measurement, and monitoring of many physical and chemical parameters of eruptions, including the concentrations and mass fluxes of erupted products and the dynamics of their spatial distribution changes, yielding better insight into how eruption intensity waxes and wanes. Rapidly converting Level 1 satellite data products into useful volcanological information calls for the development of unsupervised processing and of satellite data, so they can be ingested into predictive models to provide planners, emergency managers, and first responders with a continuously updated, quantitative picture of the volcano of interest—a picture which may or may not be complemented by a ground-based monitoring system.

This Special Issue will present papers that describe innovative satellite remote sensing datasets and the associated methods and techniques being developed for the study, investigation, and monitoring of volcanic phenomena in real and near-real time. It will discuss the new generation of passive optical and active systems expanding volcanologists’ abilities to detect, map, characterize, model, understand and interpret pre-eruptive and eruptive volcanic processes and products. We are seeking original articles on new applications and case studies based on innovative satellite observations, models, solutions, and services. Potential topics include (but are not limited to):

• Synergistic use of data acquired by sensors carried on multiple spacecraft.
• Radiometry of low- and high-temperature volcanic features.
• Improvements in eruptive columns and volcanic ash detection and tracking.
• Monitoring of volcanic sulphur and carbon gas emissions.
• Satellite monitoring of submarine volcanoes.
• Deformation monitoring and major changes in volcanic topography following, accompanying and/or preceding volcanic unrest.
• AI/ML-based cognitive interpretation of multi-parameter volcano dynamics.
• Automating the process by which remote sensing data are inverted to physical parameters and ingested into predictory models of the unrest.
• Ancillary data in support to automated monitoring processes.

Dr. Annalisa Cappello
Prof. Fabrizio Ferrucci
Dr. Nikola Rogic
Dr. Robert Wright
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.

• spaceborne EO
• volcanic unrest
• volcanic eruption
• volcanic hazards
• volcanic risk
• emergency planning
• emergency response
• artificial intelligence
• machine learning