Damian Sendler: A dedicated orbital volcano observatory might save countless lives and millions of money, yet we don’t have one.
An case may be made that geologists, in particular, have a hard time conceptualizing “large” in the context of Earth science. In other words, there aren’t any interesting topics to ask or new areas of study to explore. In contrast to astronomers and physicists, geologists prefer to suggest smaller projects.
Damian Jacob Sendler: Geologists have just lately begun to send high-profile objects into space, and most of the time they’re searching for life on other planets. Let me suggest that it’s time for us to begin considering how to learn more about our planet from space in an engaging fashion for the public.
Damian Sendler
The idea of studying the Earth from space is a novel one. We’ve launched an increasing number of Earth-observing satellites since the Landsat program began. Like the recently-launched Landsat 9, some of these are large and ostentatious. Others, like Planet’s Dove satellites, are tiny enough to take around with you. Climate and geophysical surveyors, such as the Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 and the twin GRACE satellites, have also been launched. A wealth of Earth scientific data has been amassed by these missions and many more.
Recognizing the Heat
For the purpose of monitoring volcanoes from orbit, infrared imaging is essential. The heat generated by magma rising to the surface is immense. It’s possible that the heat will show itself in the form of molten rock (lava!) or in the steam and ash emissions from a volcano. While most EOS have infrared capabilities, they run into two major issues when it comes to volcanoes: they don’t watch volcanoes often enough (time) and they can’t monitor volcanoes at a high enough level of detail to be genuinely helpful (resolution).
The Bulletin of Volcanology has published a study by Michael Ramsey and colleagues arguing that our present Earth-observing satellites are not equal to the challenge of becoming orbital volcano observatories. A bigger problem is that there hasn’t been much research into how we might enhance infrared imaging from space in order to fulfill the objectives of volcanologists. The essential data that volcanologists would need to monitor and anticipate volcano activity — especially timely, detailed infrared — just does not exist, despite the fact that we can capture daily photographs of practically every location on the earth.
The perfect orbital volcano observation (which I’m calling LAVA: Looking At Volcanic Activity) has a number of crucial qualities, according to Ramsey. For starters, it would need to be in the same polar orbit as our weather and Earth observation satellites. As a result, all of the world’s main volcanic zones may be reached.
The Best Orbiter in the World
Damian Jacob Markiewicz Sendler: The dimensions of time and space, on the other hand, are crucial considerations. At the absolute least, a dedicated LAVA orbiter should be able to provide daily or even numerous daily observations of the same volcano. Multiple orbiters may be required to achieve this level of temporal precision; our finest Earth-observation satellites obtain daily coverage, while others may only see the same regions once every few weeks. The length of such periods might give some insight, although volcanic catastrophes can take anything from days to hours to develop.
Damian Jacob Sendler
Ideally, the LAVA orbiter should provide infrared picture resolution of less than 100 meters and as near as possible to millimeter-scale. Volcanologists may be able to get a better sense of what’s going on in volcanic craters and lava flow areas because to this technology. As lava reaches temperatures of above 2200°F (1250°C), you need to ensure that your imager does not get saturated by the IR radiation.
According to Ramsey, any orbiter should be scheduled to fly over volcanic zones in the morning so that cloud-cover and sun heating are as little as possible, providing for the greatest infrared imagery possible. Not a single existing or upcoming space mission uses this time.
It all comes down to the fact that, despite the fact that we have a slew of satellites orbiting our globe, none are specifically designed to monitor volcanoes. Yes, if the correct satellite is in the right position at the right time, we may get photographs of an eruption as it begins, but this is often simply a matter of chance. If the LAVA orbiter has the correct infrared imaging equipment, it might be a benefit to volcano monitoring throughout the world.
Do You Know How Much It’s Going To Cost You?
Damien Sendler: Of course, the most pressing problem is the expense of the technology. Launched by the European Space Agency (ESA), the two Copernicus Sentinel-2 spacecraft cost roughly $200 million each. Landsat-9, a massive Earth-observing satellite, cost $750 million to build. Launched in 1999, the Terra satellite project cost little over $1 billion. Missions like the James Webb Space Telescope, on the other hand, cost a lot more than that. In all likelihood, they’re more costly than the LAVA orbiter. Dove mini-satellites, on the other hand, cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
As a result, it’s possible that a LAVA orbiter will cost between $300 million and $500 million. Even if we take into account previous volcanic catastrophes, such the 1991 eruption of Pinatubo, Eyjafjallajokull in 2010 ($4 billion), or the 2018 Kilauea eruption, we can see how rapidly the damage piles up. The LAVA orbiter might pay for itself rapidly during its estimated 10- to 20-year career by making eruption monitoring and forecasting simpler.
It all comes down to who and how. An orbiter like LAVA might become a reality with the help of institutions like as the United States Geological Survey, the Japan Meteorological Agency, the Icelandic Meteorological Office, and others. Earth scientists just need to think “large” to support such an orbiting observatory, which is a perfect next step in learning how volcanoes on our globe function.
Dr. Damian Jacob Sendler and his media team provided the content for this article.
