Dualeh, EW orcid.org/0000-0003-2933-3039, Ebmeier, SK orcid.org/0000-0002-5454-2652, Wright, TJ orcid.org/0000-0001-8338-5935 et al. (6 more authors) (2021) Analyzing Explosive Volcanic Deposits From Satellite-Based Radar Backscatter, Volcán de Fuego, 2018. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 126 (9). e2021JB022250. ISSN 2169-9313
Abstract
Satellite radar backscatter has the potential to provide useful information about the progression of volcanic eruptions when optical, ground-based, or radar phase-based measurements are limited. However, backscatter changes are complex and challenging to interpret: explosive deposits produce different signals depending on pre-existing ground cover, radar parameters and eruption characteristics. We use high temporal- and spatial-resolution backscatter imagery to examine the emplacement and alteration of pyroclastic density currents (PDCs), lahar and ash deposits from the June 2018 eruption of Volcán de Fuego, Guatemala, using observatory reports and rainfall gauge data to ground truth our observations. We use a temporally dense time series of backscatter data to reduce noise and extract deposit areas. We observe backscatter changes in six drainages, the largest deposit was 11.9-km-long that altered an area of 6.3 km2 and had a thickness of 10.5 ± 2
m in the lower sections as estimated from radar shadows. The 3 June eruption also produced backscatter signal over an area of 40 km2, consistent with reported ashfall. We use transient patterns in backscatter time series to identify nine periods of high lahar activity in a single drainage system between June and October 2018. We find that the characterization of subtle backscatter signals associated with explosive eruptions are best observed with (1) radiometric terrain calibration, (2) speckle correction, and (3) consideration of pre-existing scattering properties. Our observations demonstrate that SAR backscatter can capture the emplacement and subsequent alteration of a range of explosive deposits, allowing the progression of an explosive eruption to be monitored.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2021. The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | explosive volcanism; Fuego June 2018 Eruption; SAR backscatter |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Inst of Geophysics and Tectonics (IGT) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 04 Jan 2022 14:03 |
Last Modified: | 04 Jan 2022 14:03 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Identification Number: | 10.1029/2021jb022250 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:181941 |