Observing Lava Dome Roughness on Synthetic

Aperture Radar (SAR) Data

Case Study at Mt. Sinabung and Merapi - Indonesia

Asep Saepuloh and Ketut Wikantika Minoru Urai

Center for Remote Sensing (CRS) Geological Survey of Japan (GSJ)
Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) Advanced industrial science and technology (AIST)
Bandung, Indonesia Tsukuba, Japan
saepuloh@gc.itb.ac.id urai-minoru@aist.go.jp

Abstract Detecting ground surface changes at active

volcanoes is crucial for better hazard mitigation. Ground based
measurements are commonly used to detect surface changes
especially on the flanks near to the summit. However, the
selection of observation points is limited by field conditions such
as rough terrain and topographical barrier. The few number of
observation points may lead to miss-interpretation when the
displacements related to magma ascent occurred beneath Mt. Sinabung
unobserved flanks. This classical problem is common for
dormant volcanoes. Overcoming the problem, we used the
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data to observe surface
roughness changes at the summit of active volcanoes. This paper
discussed the potential capability of the SAR backscattering N
intensity to observe ground surface changes in view point of
surface roughness around the summit. We presented two study
cases at Mt. Sinabung in North Sumatra and Mt. Merapi in
Central Java Indonesia. Mt. Merapi was selected for
comparison following published references. Mt. Sinabung is
currently active since the first phreatic eruption has been
occurred in August 2010. Time series of lava dome roughness on
200 km
SAR (drSAR) method were used to detect ground surface
changes prior to the eruption.Based on this method, the ground Fig. 1. Location of study area at Mt. Sinabung, Karo District, North Sumatra,
surface at the summit of Mt. Sinabung changed from 5121 to Indonesia on shaded map of ETOPO 1 arc-minute global relief model [5].
6584 m2. The temporal pattern slightly agreed to the ground
surface changes at summit of Mt. Merapi prior to the 2010 To simplify the radar equation, we used time series of SAR
eruptions.Observing ground surface changes related to surface backscattering intensities at fixed point of lava dome.
roughness at the summit might be used as new tools for observing Therefore, the unknown parameters could be disregarded. In
volcanic activity. this paper, we demonstrated the detection of temporal ground
Index TermsSAR, roughness, lava dome, Mt. Sinabung, Mt.
surface changes supposed to be related to surface roughness at
Merapi. lava dome. Mt. Sinabung at North Sumatra, Indonesia was
selected as study area due to on-going volcanic activity since
I. INTRODUCTION August 2010 (Figure 1). This volcano has been re-activated
Roughness of the ground surface is a physical parameter after long dormancy about 1200 years [4].To confirm the
which is important for characterizing surface geology such as proposed result, we used the Mt. Merapi eruption in Nov. 2010
weathering and hydrothermal alteration degrees [1]. as presented by [7]. This proposed approach might be used as
Quantifying and modeling surface roughness at field using alternative for observing Interferometric SAR (InSAR)
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data is a complicated problem deformation at active volcanoes.
because of topographic complexity such as rms height, rms II. DATA AND METHODOLOGY
slope, and correlation length [2] and also unknown radar
parameters such as relative dielectric permittivity and relative The SAR backscattering coefficient 0 is a power return to
magnetic permeability [3]. the receiver sensor as function of several parameters and
explicitly could be written as follows:

978-1-4673-7297-8/15/$31.00 2015
c IEEE 645
 Incidence wave Incidence wave
Fig. 2. Illustration of lava dome growth corresponds to high SAR backscattering toward the sensor (Modified from [6]).
0 = (4k4h02cos4i)||2 (1)
where k is wavenumber, h0 is surface roughness, i is the
angle of incidence from the mean normal direction to the
surface, is proportional to polarization state, and is
roughness height spectral density of the surfacetopography.
For the case of SAR backscattering time series at a fixed point
of surface lava dome, we assumed that the k, i, , and are
constantsbecause the path/row of data series, surface material,
and topography are constant. Therefore, only h0 influences to
the0. Figure 2 shows the illustration of lava dome roughness
on SAR (drSAR) for Showa-Shinzan lava dome growth [6].
After the eruption period, the summit of volcano is flat
relatively and produces low backscattering (see Fig. 2 on the
left). When the lava dome is growing, the volume of lava dome
increase and produce fracturing system at surface. The
fractures may produce rough surface which are presented by
higher backscattering intensity than flat surface (see Fig. 2 on
the middle). Following this assumption, the maximum surface
roughness will be achieved prior to the eruption (see Fig. 2 on
the right). After the eruption, the drSAR might be affected not
only by fractures at surface lava dome, but also new volcanic
products.
We used 16 scenes of the Phased Array type L-band
Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) data onboard the
Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS). For the first step
of SAR processing is geocoding and co-registration of the
ALOS PALSAR level 1.5 images. The geocoding was used to
transform the location of each image pixel to the correct
location at the earth surface. Then, co-registration among the
images was also applied and then followed by sub-setting
process. The purpose of sub-setting process is to simplify in
detection process and reduce time processing. The study area
overlaid on the full backscattering intensity image of ALOS
PALSAR is depicted in Figure 3 (left). The location of Mt.
Sinabung is depicted by black triangle in sub-setting result of
646 2015 IEEE 5th Asia-Pacific Conference on Synthetic Aperture Radar(APSAR)
Incidence wave
Figure 3 (right). Finally, a layer-stacking process was
performed to the 16 images. Ground surface change detections
using seed-fill method with pixel growth criterion following [7]
were used to quantify the area of drSAR at the summit of Mt.
Sinabung.
III. TIME SERIES OFSUFACE ROUGHNESS
Following [7] we calculated the area size of the drSAR for
16 ALOS PALSAR data series in 2007 2010. The drSAR
changes at the summit of Mt. Sinabung were presented by red
portion in backscattering intensity images of ALOS PALSAR
(Figure 4). Then, the area size of drSAR at Mt. Sinabung is
depicted by Figure 5. In spite of low variation curve, the small
changes were detected in 2007 and 2008. In 2009 the curve
showed relatively flat. Then, the increment was noticeable in
January to August 2010. The high drSAR size was detected
prior to the eruption in 16 July 2010 about 5121 m2. The
maximum area size was detected four days after the eruption in
31 August 2010 about 6584 m2. We interpreted that the drSAR
size prior to the eruption was affected mainly by structures
such as fracturing system. However, after the eruption drSAR
was affected also by roughness of new volcanic products.
10 km 5 km
Fig. 3. Study area at Mt. Sinabung depicted by backscattering intensity image
of ALOS PALSAR before (left) and after sub-setting (right) process [8].
 Fig. 4. Roughness chhanges at the summit of Mt. Sinabung was detected using drSAR meethod.

Ground Surrface Changes based on drSAR at Mt. Sinabun

ng
and Merapi
60000

50000

40000
Area (m2)

Mt. Sinabung Eruption

27 Aug. 2010 Mt. Merapi
M
30000
Mt. Sinabung
S
20000

Mt. Merapi Eruption

10000 5 Nov. 2010

Date
Fig. 5. Time series of drSAR calculatedd from NRCS at the summit of Mt. Sinabung compare to Mt. Merapii (Saepuloh et al., 2013).

To confirm the changes pattern, we useed the case of Mt.
Merapi eruption in November 2010 as depiccted by blue curve
in Fig. 5. The large variation was detected at
a the summit lava
dome of Mt. Merapi in 2007 2008. In 20100, the drSAR curve
showed decrease about 13500 m2 and follow wed by maximum
increase in 17 December 2010 about 55800 m2. Contrary to Mt.
Sinabung, the eruption of Mt. Merapi is characterized by
decrease of drSAR prior to the eruption. The different eruption
type between magmatic eruptiion at Mt. Merapi and phreatic
eruption at Mt. Sinabung mighht be affected to the surface lava
dome as detected by drSAR. The interaction between water
and magma for phreatic eruuption produce high pressure
beneath the surface and fracturiing system at lava dome surface.

2015 IEEE 5th Asia-Pacific Conference on Synthetic Aperture Radar(APSAR) 647

 IV. CONCLUSION
The Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) remote sensing
technology is effective to observe surficial ground surface
changes related to surface roughness at active volcanoes. The
surface roughness parameter in the SAR data provided useful
information related to physical property of the summit lava
dome. The surface roughness presented by backscattering
intensity could be estimated using lava dome roughness on
SAR (drSAR) of the ALOS PALSAR data. Time series of
drSAR increased in the early eruption of Mt. Sinabung, but
decreased at Mt. Merapi. The high drSAR size was detected
prior to the eruption of Mt. Sinabung about 5121 m2. The
maximum area size about 6584 m2was detected four days
after the eruption.Contrary to Mt. Sinabung, the eruption of
Mt. Merapi is characterized by decrease of drSAR about 13500
m2 prior to the eruptionfollowed by maximum increaseabout
55800 m2. The eruption type between phreatic and magmatic
eruption might be affected to the different characteristic of the
drSAR.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors thank to Mr. Syamora Setyadi Supardan for his
effort in preparing ALOS PALSAR data. The ALOS PALSAR
data were obtained from JSpacesystem through a collaborative
research work between ITB and Geological Survey of Japan
(GSJ) in 2010-2013.
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648 2015 IEEE 5th Asia-Pacific Conference on Synthetic Aperture Radar(APSAR)
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