© Author(s) 2007. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences Combination of SAR remote sensing and GIS for monitoring subglacial volcanic activity – recent results from

• Main Authors: Vatnajökull Ice Cap (icel, K. Scharrer, R. Malservisi, Ch. Mayer, O. Spieler, U. Münzer
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Vatnajökull; glacier; Ice cap; Iceland
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.382.7359; http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/29/94/70/PDF/nhess-7-717-2007.pdf

Abstract. This paper presents latest results from the combined use of SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) remote sensing and GIS providing detailed insights into recent volcanic activity under Vatnajökull ice cap (Iceland). Glaciers atop active volcanoes pose a constant potential danger to adjacent inhabited regions and infrastructure. Besides the usual volcanic hazards (lava flows, pyroclastic clouds, tephra falls, etc.), the volcano-ice interaction leads to enormous meltwater torrents (icelandic: jökulhlaup), devastating large areas in the surroundings of the affected glacier. The presented monitoring strategy addresses the three crucial questions: When will an eruption occur, where is the eruption site and which area is endangered by the accompanying jökulhlaup. Therefore, sufficient early-warning and hazard zonation for future subglacial volcanic eruptions becomes possible, as demonstrated