Globally, about 250 Holocene volcanoes are either glacier-clad or have glaciers in close proximity. Interactions between volcanoes and glaciers are therefore common, and some of the most deadly (e.g., Nevado del Ruiz, 1985) and most costly (e.g., Eyjafjallajökull, 2010) eruptions of recent years were associated with glaciovolcanism. An improved understanding of volcano-glacier interactions is therefore of both global scientific and societal importance. This study investigates the potential of using optical satellite images to detect volcanic impacts on glaciers, with a view to utilise detected changes in glacier surface morphology to improve glacier-clad volcano monitoring and eruption forecasting. Roughly 1400 optical satellite images are investigated from key, well-documented eruptions around the globe during the satellite remote sensing era (i.e., 1972 to present). The most common observable volcanic impact on glacier morphology (for both thick and thin ice-masses) is the formation of ice cauldrons and openings, often associated with concentric crevassing. Other observable volcanic impacts include ice bulging and fracturing due to subglacial dome growth; localized crevassing adjacent to supraglacial lava flows; widespread glacier crevassing, presumably, due to meltwater-triggered glacier acceleration and advance. The main limitation of using optical satellite images to investigate changes in glacier morphology is the availability of cloud- and eruption-plume-free scenes of sufficient spatial- and temporal resolution. Therefore, for optimal monitoring and eruption prediction at glacier-clad volcanoes, optical satellite images are best used in combination with other sources, including SAR satellite data, aerial images, ground-based observations and satellite-derived products (e.g., DEMs).

Michael Dieter Martin, Iestyn Barr, Benjamin Edwards, Matteo Spagnolo, Sanaz Vajedian, and Elias Symeonakis, Assessing the Use of Optical Satellite Images to Detect Volcanic Impacts on Glacier Surface Morphology, in Remote Sensing for Volcano Systems Monitoring, eds. Pietro Tizzani, Giuseppe Solaro, and Raffaele Castaldo, special issue, Remote Sensing 13, no. 17 (2021): 3453. https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/13/17/3453

Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This is an Open Access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Benjamin Edwards is a professor of Geosciences at Dickinson College.

This published version is made available on Dickinson Scholar with the permission of the publisher. For more information on the published version, visit MDPI's Website. https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/13/17/3453

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