scholarly journals Role of Emissivity in Lava Flow ‘Distance-to-Run’ Estimates from Satellite-Based Volcano Monitoring

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 662 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikola Rogic ◽  
Annalisa Cappello ◽  
Fabrizio Ferrucci

Remote sensing is an established technological solution for bridging critical gaps in volcanic hazard assessment and risk mitigation. The enormous amount of remote sensing data available today at a range of temporal and spatial resolutions can aid emergency management in volcanic crises by detecting and measuring high-temperature thermal anomalies and providing lava flow propagation forecasts. In such thermal estimates, an important role is played by emissivity—the efficiency with which a surface radiates its thermal energy at various wavelengths. Emissivity has a close relationship with land surface temperatures and radiant fluxes, and it impacts directly on the prediction of lava flow behavior, as mass flux estimates depend on measured radiant fluxes. Since emissivity is seldom measured and mostly assumed, we aimed to fill this gap in knowledge by carrying out a multi-stage experiment, combining laboratory-based Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analyses, remote sensing data, and numerical modeling. We tested the capacity for reproducing emissivity from spaceborne observations using ASTER Global Emissivity Database (GED) while assessing the spatial heterogeneity of emissivity. Our laboratory-satellite emissivity values were used to establish a realistic land surface temperature from a high-resolution spaceborne payload (ETM+) to obtain an instant temperature–radiant flux and eruption rate results for the 2001 Mount Etna (Italy) eruption. Forward-modeling tests conducted on the 2001 ‘aa’ lava flow by means of the MAGFLOW Cellular Automata code produced differences of up to ~600 m in the simulated lava flow ‘distance-to-run’ for a range of emissivity values. Given the density and proximity of urban settlements on and around Mount Etna, these results may have significant implications for civil protection and urban planning applications.

2014 ◽  
Vol 1010-1012 ◽  
pp. 1276-1279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yin Tai Na

The three commonly used remote sensing land surface temperature retrieval methods are described, namely single-window algorithm, split window algorithm and multi-channel algorithm, which have their advantages and disadvantages. The land surface temperature (LST) of study area was retrieved with multi-source remote sensing data. LST of study area was retrieved with the split window algorithm on January 10, 2003 and November 19, 2003 which is comparatively analyzed with the LST result of ETM+data with the single-window algorithm and the LST result of ASTER data with multi channel algorithm in the same period. The results show that land surface temperature of different land features are significantly different, where the surface temperature of urban land is the highest, and that of rivers and lakes is the lowest, followed by woodland. It is concluded that the expansion of urban green space and protection of urban water can prevent or diminish the urban heat island.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (16) ◽  
pp. 2660
Author(s):  
Philip Marzahn ◽  
Swen Meyer

Land Surface Models (LSM) have become indispensable tools to quantify water and nutrient fluxes in support of land management strategies or the prediction of climate change impacts. However, the utilization of LSM requires soil and vegetation parameters, which are seldom available in high spatial distribution or in an appropriate temporal frequency. As shown in recent studies, the quality of these model input parameters, especially the spatial heterogeneity and temporal variability of soil parameters, has a strong effect on LSM simulations. This paper assesses the potential of microwave remote sensing data for retrieving soil physical properties such as soil texture. Microwave remote sensing is able to penetrate in an imaged media (soil, vegetation), thus being capable of retrieving information beneath such a surface. In this study, airborne remote sensing data acquired at 1.3 GHz and in different polarization is utilized in conjunction with geostatistics to retrieve information about soil texture. The developed approach is validated with in-situ data from different field campaigns carried out over the TERENO test-site “North-Eastern German Lowland Observatorium”. With the proposed approach a high accuracy of the retrieved soil texture with a mean RMSE of 2.42 (Mass-%) could be achieved outperforming classical deterministic and geostatistical approaches.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaokui Cui ◽  
Xi Chen ◽  
Wentao Xiong ◽  
Lian He ◽  
Feng Lv ◽  
...  

Surface soil moisture (SM) plays an essential role in the water and energy balance between the land surface and the atmosphere. Low spatio-temporal resolution, about 25–40 km and 2–3 days, of the commonly used global microwave SM products limits their application at regional scales. In this study, we developed an algorithm to improve the SM spatio-temporal resolution using multi-source remote sensing data and a machine-learning model named the General Regression Neural Network (GRNN). First, six high spatial resolution input variables, including Land Surface Temperature (LST), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), albedo, Digital Elevation Model (DEM), Longitude (Lon) and Latitude (Lat), were selected and gap-filled to obtain high spatio-temporal resolution inputs. Then, the GRNN was trained at a low spatio-temporal resolution to obtain the relationship between SM and input variables. Finally, the trained GRNN was driven by the high spatio-temporal resolution input variables to obtain high spatio-temporal resolution SM. We used the Fengyun-3B (FY-3B) SM over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) to test the algorithm. The results show that the algorithm could successfully improve the spatio-temporal resolution of FY-3B SM from 0.25° and 2–3 days to 0.05° and 1-day over the TP. The improved SM is consistent with the original product in terms of both spatial distribution and temporal variation. The high spatio-temporal resolution SM allows a better understanding of the diurnal and seasonal variations of SM at the regional scale, consequently enhancing ecological and hydrological applications, especially under climate change.


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