PASI: Volcanic Hazards and Remote Sensing in Pacific Latin America; San Jose, Costa Rica; January/February, 2011

Michigan Technological University, Houghton MI

Investigators

Abstract

This Pan-American Advanced Studies Institutes (PASI) award, jointly supported by the NSF and the Department of Energy (DOE), will take place during January/February 2011 at the University of Costa Rica (UCR), San Jose, Costa Rica in collaboration with Dr. Mauricio Mora Fernandez of the Geology Department of UCR. Organized by Dr. William I. Rose of Michigan Technological University, the PASI will focus on the application of remote sensing to volcano monitoring and forecasting. Seismic activity in Central America provides a unique opportunity for remotely sensed monitoring tools because many of the volcanoes are persistently active, open-conduit systems. Low energy volcanoes such as these can be punctuated by catastrophic explosive events, making Costa Rica an ideal case study for this PASI. The course will consist of lectures, hands-on field and computer activities, and discussion sessions covering fundamental aspects of remote sensing and digital image processing. Participants will include 15 students, post docs and junior faculty members from the U.S. and 15 from the rest of the Americas. The PASI will provide an opportunity to collaborate with, and build on continuing efforts of other organizations to improve Mesoamerica's remote sensing capabilities. This PASI will foster international collaboration to further explore new developments in remote sensing of geological hazards associated with volcanic activity. It will also provide a venue for knowledge exchange among the various organizations working in Central American hazard mitigation including NASA, SERVIR, USGS, and VDAP. Expected outcomes of this PASI include: 1) increased awareness of available data and instruments for collecting data; 2) increased proficiency in acquiring and processing data; 3) increased awareness of the availability of tools for processing remotely sensed data; and, 4) more effective and comprehensive archiving and sharing of data. PASI results will be disseminated through a website with course information and updates, a publicly available report, and a special issue in a geosciences or remote sensing journal.