Drones have become an essential tool to map, measure and observe the extremely dangerous environments surrounding volcanic eruptions.  Researching vol

Mapping Volcano Eruptions With Drones

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2023-05-23 16:00:12

Drones have become an essential tool to map, measure and observe the extremely dangerous environments surrounding volcanic eruptions.

Researching volcanoes is a dangerous job. There’s the flying globs of molten lava, irritating volcanic smog (vog), unstable ground and sinkholes that can drop beneath your feet, volcanic glass threads called Pele’s hair that can pierce your skin and irritate your lungs, deadly invisible pools of carbon dioxide, and searing hot sulfur dioxide gas that can choke and kill you, just to name a few hazards.

To help minimize some of these risks, and record observations that would otherwise be difficult or impossible in a helicopter, United States Geological Survey (USGS) researchers have embraced the drone as an essential tool to observe the chaotic, rapidly changing environments surrounding volcanic eruptions near the summit of Hawaii’s Kīlauea Volcano.

The dataset featured in this post comes from a FOIA request submitted to the USGS from data journalist (and licensed drone pilot) Ben Welsh. The data contains over 800 photographs from an October 2022 Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS) mission at Halema'uma'u crater. Welsh also included a cool downloadable 3-D printable model of the crater.

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