The autonomous Model-based Volcano Sensor Web (MSW), based at JPL, proved its worth during a volcanic crisis at Nyamulagira, Democratic Republic of Congo, in 2006. The MSW facilitated the rapid acquisition of spacecraft data which allowed pinpointing the location of the volcanic vent. This was vital in predicting lava flow direction and extent. In 2007 a number of improvements have been made to the MSW. These include the deployment of in situ SO2 sensors on Kilaueavolcano, HI, capable not only of triggering requests by the EO-1 spacecraft in the event of anomalous SO2 detection, but also of being triggered autonomously by an anomalous thermal detection from advanced data processing software onboard EO-1, and the conversion of the sensor web to using Open Geospatial Consortium Web Services. The Sensor Web is monitoring volcanoes around the world. A number of interesting volcanic eruptions have been detected and monitored, including a carbonatite eruption at Oldoinyo Lengai, Tanzania, and the March 2008 summit eruption of Kilauea, Hawai’i, that occurred in the Halema’uma’u caldera.
Davies, A.G. et al. (2008): The Model-Based Volcano Sensor Web: Progress in 2007. Proceedings of the NASA Earth Science Technology Conference 2008, Paper A7P3.
