Deception Island 1967–1970 Volcano Eruptions from Historical Aerial Frames and Satellite Imagery (Antarctic Peninsula)

Abstract

Aerial frames and satellite imagery are widely recognized data sources from which to produce maps. For volcanoes, maps enable the quantification of erupted ash and the destruction caused. The last eruptive sequence on Deception Island was endured from 1967 to 1970. Analogue maps were produced via classical photogrammetric methods with a high degree of human intervention mainly to analyse the volcanic-centres areas only. However, historical aerial frames cover the whole of Deception Island. Structure from motion photogrammetry, a near-automated compilation of digital image processing strategies, minimizes the degree of human intervention to produce orthographic mosaics and digital elevation models from digital aerial frames. Orthographic mosaics were produced from historical aerial frames of 1956 and 1968, and a Kompsat-3 image of 2020. Their shared root-mean-square deviation was 1.8 m and 1.7 m in easting and northing, respectively, at ground control points measured with phase-differential global navigation satellite systems. The digital elevation models were processed with a root-mean-square deviation of 2.3 m and 3.6 m from 1956 and 1968 aerial frames, respectively. As the first application, erupted ashfall and the subsequent destruction, mainly at the former Chilean and British bases, were identified, and the volume of erupted ash was assessed to be over 0.16 km3 within the area mapped by these new digital cartographic products.

Surface Displacement of Hurd Rock Glacier from 1956 to 2019 from Historical Aerial Frames and Satellite Imagery (Livingston Island, Antarctic Peninsula)

“…The displacement of each pixel position is due to the projection of the feature by a non-vertical line-of-sight between the camera center and the feature, thus radial function of feature height [44]. Hence, the complete imagery processing can be performed with human intervention almost limited to the ground control points' identification [45].…”

“…To detect topographical changes and geomorphological dynamics, digital elevation models and orthographic images can be compared. The surface reconstruction is not obtainable from satellite single images; however, their orthographic images can be applied to quantify geomorphological dynamics [45].…”

“…Further, the lack of artificial ground control points was a strong limitation, as the interpretation of natural ground control points can be somewhat ambiguous, making it less crucial to survey with phase-differential GNSS precision. Nonetheless, phase-differential GNSS accuracy is expected to impact the overall precision of the orthographic images [45].…”

Evaluation and Modelling of the Coastal Geomorphological Changes of Deception Island Since 1970 Eruption and Its Involvement in Research Activity

“…With the new Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica (REMA) [47], a 2 m resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM), and 52 GCPs, a new orthorectification of this 2003 QB image was produced. It was processed using ENVI 5.0 software with the rational polynomial coefficient following the same method applied to a new Kompsat-3 satellite image (K3), acquired on 9 February 2020, with a 0.7 m panchromatic resolution [23]. In addition, a new orthophoto from a 1968 photogrammetric flight [23], several partial clouded Sentinel 2 images (eight from 2016 and one free of cloud but with full snow cover in 2022) from the European Spatial Agency (ESA), and some Google Earth images (seven images from 1985) were analysed.…”

“…This paper presents a Port Foster coastline temporal study starting from the geomorphological situation of the island from the last eruption in 1970. It focusses on the identification and quantification of historical changes in the inland watershed, coastline, and bay seabed using several resources such as elevation and bathymetric data, new historical orthophotos of our own elaboration [23], satellite images, and geomorphological information, and we highlight a contrast with the numerical DELFT3D model [24]. This computational model is widely used to simulate the main physical processes that are relevant in coastal environments, such as embayments and estuaries [25][26][27][28].…”