Establishing a database for volcanic eruptions and landslides using ArcticDEM

Abstract:

Satellite remote sensing provides a tremendous resource for enhancing the systematic understanding of natural hazards. Despite the increasing research into the application of modern remote sensing tools, there are still gaps in fully utilizing the vast and growing volume of measurements and its translation into improved understanding and mitigation of natural hazards. We are establishing a pan-Arctic mass wasting inventory from the recent history of land surface changes caused by volcanic eruptions and mass wasting events using ArcticDEM – a transformative new data source generated from satellite stereophotogrammetry. Created from submeter resolution optical imagery acquired by the DigitalGlobe constellation of satellites, the large collection of time-dependent, 2-meter resolution Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) provided by ArcticDEM is shown to map the topographic changes with vertical precision as good as a few decimeters. Case studies include the quantification of surface elevation changes (lava flows, deposits, ice cauldrons, and deformation) corresponding to the 2001 eruption of Mount Cleveland, Alaska, the 2010 eruption of Eyjafjallajökull, Iceland, the 2011 eruption of Grímsvötn, Iceland, and the 2014–15 eruption of Bárðarbunga volcano, Iceland. We will also present several newly discovered landslides, such as the slow-moving landslide in Barry Arm, Alaska, and the 2017 Kinnikinnick Landslide in Alaska. This pioneering research demonstrates the capability of ArcticDEM for measuring topographic change over the highly dynamic Arctic land surface. The mass wasting inventory will become a baseline database for the geosciences community to improve the scientific understanding and monitoring of volcanic eruptions, to further investigate the triggers of mass wasting events, and provide standardized measurements of mass wasting events across the Arctic. The future global coverage of time-dependent DEMs provided by EarthDEM (started in 2018) will extend the application to the entire Earth and potentially transform our understanding of the changing planet.