The science of predicting volcanic eruptions can really save lives and researchers have shown that the colors of tree leaves can act as warning signs around a volcano about to erupted.
As volcanoes become more active and approach an eruption, they push the magma closer to the surface, releasing higher levels of carbon dioxide. This, in turn, can improve the health of surrounding trees, making Green leaves.
And these changes – specifically in the measurement known as vegetation index by normalized difference (NDVI) – They can be detected by satellites in space. We could be facing an early warning system for eruptions that do not require any local field work or terrestrial sensors, which could work in remote and difficult to access areas.
“There are many satellites that we can use to do this kind of analysis,” says Nicole GuinnVulcanologist, from the University of Houston.
Guinn was the first author of a recent study in the magazine Remote Sensing of Environmentwhich analyzed the levels of carbon dioxide around Mount Etna in Italy. The study compared sensor data around the volcano with satellite images, and found a strong relationship between more carbon dioxide and greener trees.
Over the course of two years, the team found 16 clear carbon dioxide and ndvi peakscorresponding to the magma movements in the underground. The patterns were observed even away from the mountain failures.
This study referenced one from 2019, led by the Robert Boguevolcanologist at McGill University, which showed that carbon dioxide emitted by two active volcanoes in Costa Rica had an impact on the color of the region’s tropical tree leaves.
Now, Guinn and Bogue, along with other researchers, are working on a project led by NASA and Smithsonian Institution, which analyzes the Changes in the color of plant life Around volcanoes in Panama and Costa Rica.
This project is part of the collaborative mission Airborne Validation Unified Experiment: Land to Ocean (AVUELO), which seeks to develop more ways to measure the health of the planet from satellites. Current methods, such as the Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 NASA, are strong enough just for detect large eruptions.
“A volcano that emits modest amounts of carbon dioxide that can foreshadow an eruption will not appear in satellite images,” says Bogue.
“The idea is to find something we can measure instead of carbon dioxide directly to give us an indicator to detect changes in volcanic emissions.”
There are several signs which can be interpreted to predict volcanic eruptions, including the noise of seismic waves and changes in ground height. With leaf greenness due to carbon dioxide emissions, we now have another signal to measure, even if it is not suitable for all locations.
Avuelo researchers are also interested in the broader effects of increasing carbon dioxide on trees. As our world warms up due to human carbon dioxide emissions, we can become increasingly dependent on vegetation to regulate this greenhouse gas.
“We are interested not only in the responses of trees to volcanic carbon dioxide as an early warning of eruption, but also in the amount that trees are capable of absorbing, such as a Window for the Future of Earth When all trees on the planet are exposed to high levels of carbon dioxide, ”he says Josh FisherClimate Scientist at Chapman University, California, and a member of the Avuelo team.
Teresa Oliveira Campos, Zap //
