EGU21-4291, updated on 04 Mar 2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-4291
EGU General Assembly 2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Detection and monitoring of hydrothermal alteration by Principal Component Analysis applied on UAS derived optical data, Vulcano Island - Italy

Daniel Müller1, Stefan Bredemeyer1, Edgar Zorn1, Erica De Paolo2, and Thomas Walter1
Daniel Müller et al.
  • 1GFZ Potsdam, German Research Center for Geoscience, 2.1 physics of earthquakes and volcanoes, Potsdam, Germany (dmueller@gfz-potsdam.de)
  • 2INGV Isitituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Rome

Modern UAS (unmanned aircraft system), light weight sensor systems and new processing routines allow us to gather optical data of volcanoes at a high resolution. However, due to the typically poor colorization, our ability to investigate and interpret such data is limited. Further, the information stored in the red, green and blue channel (RGB) is correlated. This makes any analysis a 3 dimensional task. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) helps us to overcome these problems by decorrelating the original band information and generating a variance representation of the original data. Therefore PCA is a suitable tool to detect optical anomalies, as might be caused by volcanic degassing and associated processes.

Applied in a case study at La Fossa Cone (Vulcano Island - Italy), the PCA showed a high efficiency for the detection and pixel based extraction of areas subject to hydrothermal alteration and sulfur deposition. We observed a broad alteration zone surrounding the active fumarole field, but also heterogeneities within, indicating a segmentation. Systematic variations in color and density distribution of sulfur deposits have implications for structural controls on the degassing system.

Combining the efficiency of PCA with the high resolution of UAS derived data, this methodology has a high potential to be employed in the spatio-temporal monitoring of volcanic hydrothermal systems and processes at surface.

 

How to cite: Müller, D., Bredemeyer, S., Zorn, E., De Paolo, E., and Walter, T.: Detection and monitoring of hydrothermal alteration by Principal Component Analysis applied on UAS derived optical data, Vulcano Island - Italy, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-4291, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-4291, 2021.

Corresponding displays formerly uploaded have been withdrawn.