RSTVOLC implementation on MODIS data for monitoring of thermal volcanic activity

• Main Authors: Rossana Paciello, Mariapia Faruolo, Irina Coviello, Valerio Tramutoli, Nicola Pergola, Francesco Marchese, Teodosio Lacava, Giuseppe Mazzeo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) 2011-12-01
• Series: Annals of Geophysics
• Subjects: Etna, MODIS, hot spots, RSTVOLC.
• Online Access: http://www.annalsofgeophysics.eu/index.php/annals/article/view/5337

An optimized configuration of the Robust Satellite Technique (RST) approach was developed within the framework of the ‘LAVA’ project. This project is funded by the Italian Department of Civil Protection and the Italian Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, with the aim to improve the effectiveness of satellite monitoring of thermal volcanic activity. This improved RST configuration, named RSTVOLC, has recently been implemented in an automatic processing chain that was developed to detect hot-spots in near real-time for Italian volcanoes. This study presents the results obtained for the Mount Etna eruption of July 14-24, 2006, using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data. To better assess the operational performance, the RSTVOLC results are also discussed in comparison with those obtained by MODVOLC, a well-established, MODIS-based algorithm for hot-spot detection that is used worldwide.