A. Bhattacharya et al., REMOTE-SENSING FOR ACTIVE VOLCANO MONITORING IN BARREN-ISLAND, INDIA, Photogrammetric engineering and remote sensing, 59(8), 1993, pp. 1293-1297
The Barren Island Volcano, situated in the Andaman Sea of the Bay of B
engal, erupted recently (March, 1991) after a prolonged period of quie
scence of about 188 years. This resumed activity coincides with simila
r outbreaks in the Philippines and Japan, which are located in an iden
tical tectonic environment. This study addresses (1) remote sensing te
mporal monitoring of the volcanic activity, (2) detecting hot lava and
measuring its pixel-integrated and sub-pixel temperatures, and (3) th
e importance of SWIR bands for high temperature volcanic feature detec
tion. Seven sets of TM data acquired continuously from 3 March 1991 to
8 July 1991 have been analyzed. ft is concluded that detectable pre-e
ruption warming took place around 25 March 1991 and volcanic activity
started on 1 April 1991. It is observed that high temperature features
such as an erupting volcano can register emitted thermal radiance in
SWIR bands. Calculation of pixel-integrated and sub-pixel temperatures
related to volcanic vents has been made, using the dual-band method.