Lava flow thermal analysis using three infrared bands of remote-sensing imagery: a study case from Mount Etna 2001 eruption

Abstract

Infrared remotely sensed data can be used to estimate heat flux and thermal features of active volcanoes. The model proposed by Crisp and Baloga (1990) for active lava flows considers the thermal flux as a function of the fractional area of two thermally distinct radiant surfaces: the larger surface area corresponds to the cooler crust of the flow, the smaller one to fractures in the crust. In this model, the crust temperature Tc, the cracks temperature Th, and the fractional area of the hottest component fh represent the three unknowns to solve. The simultaneous solution of the Planck equation (“dual-band” technique) for two distinct shortwave infrared (SWIR) bands allows to estimate any two of the parameters Tc, Th, fh, if the third is assumed. The airborne sensor MIVIS was flown on Mount Etna during the July-August 2001 eruption. This hyperspectral imaging spectrometer offers 72 bands in the SWIR range and 10 bands in thermal infrared (TIR) region of the spectrum, which can be used to solve the dual-band system without any assumption. Therefore, we can combine three spectral MIVIS bands to obtain simultaneous solutions for the three unknowns. Here, the procedure for solving such a system is presented. It is then demonstrated that a TIR channel is required to better pinpoint solutions to the 2-components model. Finally, the spatial and statistical characteristic of the resultant MIVIS-derived temperature and flux distributions are introduced and statistics for each hot spot investigated.