NRT-Monitoring am Vulkanausbruch Eyjafjallajokull (Island) mit TerraSAR-X

Abstract

NRT-Monitoring of the Eyjafjallajö kull volcanic eruption (Iceland) with TerraSAR-X. Natural disaster monitoring in Iceland, based on remote sensing data is performed by the group of geological remote sensing at the University of Munich for the space agencies ESA, NASDA/JAXA and CSA since 1992. This will be an important contribution by remote sensing techniques for the early warning and monitoring of natural disasters. The recent volcanic eruptions of the Fimmvö rduhá ls (20.3.- 12.4.2010) and beneath Eyjafjallajö kull (since 14.4.2010) were the motivation for acquiring a series of TerraSAR-X scenes covering the volcanoes. This new satellite generation with its different beam modes and the additional option of rotation of the satellite from right looking to left looking mode allows an almost daily coverage of the active region in Iceland. This high frequent time series allowed a detailed investigation of the impact of the volcanic activities on the ice cover. For the rst time, also a glacier outburst ood (jökulhlaup: massive ood originating from melted glacier ice) could be covered by the image (15.4.2010). The ow velocities of this ood have been determined by Doppler-frequency measurements. Our study shows that the very fast data availability from TerraSAR-X enables an NRT-monitoring for observing natural processes.