Satellite remote sensing of volcanic activity in New Zealand

Mt Ruapehu is New Zealand¿s most active volcano. In 2007, the volcano produced a large lahar following a crater lake dam wall breach, in addition to a minor eruption and small associated lahars. Here, satellite remote sensing and image processing is used to extract the path of the major lahar, and to compare the results achieved through classification of ASTER visible and near infra-red imagery to those derived from ALOS-PALSAR L-band synthetic aperture RADAR data. This study also details how remote sensing can be used to derive temperature values useful for monitoring volcanic activity. Eleven ASTER thermal images were acquired to extract the temperature of the crater lake and a linear correlation coefficient (r2) of 0.94 was achieved when compared to field survey. The results herein demonstrate the utility of satellite remote sensing for mapping and monitoring volcanic activity in New Zealand.