Project 7

The proposed student project is related to an ongoing project that I have been involved in for several years: using satellite remote sensing tools to map, measure, and monitor geothermal activity in Yellowstone. This new project would extend the Yellowstone workflow to another volcanic geothermal system: Lassen Volcano, in Northern California. Like Yellowstone, Lassen Volcano is within a National Park and has a similar surface expression of its geothermal system, though it is smaller than Yellowstone. Lassen Volcanic National Park also has similar thermal monitoring goals and challenges. Thermal features need to be monitored (1) for their potential to indicate future volcanic activity and (2) for their impact on park infrastructure, visitor safety, and protection of park resources. The challenges are that the thermal features are spread out over a large, mostly inaccessible area. By using remote sensing instruments, from both NASA satellite and airborne platforms, thermal area characterization and monitoring can be achieved. The student will focus on acquiring, processing, and analyzing remote sensing data. They will learn some basic image processing, interpretation, and digital mapping skills. The data sets used could include data from NASA’s Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), Landsat 8 and 9 Thermal Infrared Sensors (TIRS), and high-resolution commercial data available through NASA’s Commercial Smallsat Data Analysis program.

The student will learn to search, order, download, and manage remote sensing data. Then they will learn to process, analyze, and interpret these data to test hypotheses and form conclusions about what the data are revealing. I would estimate a range of 5-10 hours per week of work for the student. It would be flexible, depending on the student’s schedule and other school responsibilities.

The work would result in improved maps of thermal areas around Lassen Volcano, which could be published as a USGS Data Release. These maps could be used by the National Park Service to aid in decisions about park infrastructure development and visitor safety. The work would also result in improved maps of thermal anomalies at Lassen Volcano, and better estimates of the total geothermal heat output and how it changes over time. This information is vital to understanding the overall behavior of the volcanic/hydrothermal system.