Remote Sensing of Active Volcanism

Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Geophysical Monograph Series, Volume 116. Remote sensing is an essential tool for many Earth and planetary scientists. When studying the atmosphere, the land, the ocean floor, or for that matter the surfaces of other planets, remote sensing has deepened and expanded our understanding in immediate and dramatic ways. This is especially true for volcanologists concerned with active volcanic processes. Technological advances in collecting data from a satellite or an aircraft, however, also require human skills specific to the medium, and nowhere more so than in processing and interpreting data in ways that are different from those skills needed with a field-oriented approach. In this volume on the remote sensing of active volcanoes, we clarify and address those differences. At the same time, we seek to stimulate greater interaction between remote sensing specialists and field volcanologists, aided by the tutorials and background information we have included.