Real-Time Thermo Graphic Analysis of Volcanic Eruptions

Abstrac t Video surveillance systems are consolidated techniques for the monitoring of eruptive phenomena in volcanic areas. Along with this systems, which use standard video cameras, sometimes people working on this field make use of infrared cameras providing useful information about the thermal evolution of the eruptions. The surveillance of the Mount Etna volcano in Sicily, Italy, is in charge of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e di Vulcanologia Catania site, and a large amount of monitoring systems are installed along the mountain. Data transmission between these devices and the surveillance sites is a serious task, especially when a large transmission band is required. Moreover, in the case of image storing large memorization capabilities are mandatory. In this paper a new methodology is presented, which aims to improve the performances of surveillance systems in terms of transmission band and storing feature; the proposed methodology is based on the real-time thermo graphic analysis of the monitored area which can provide information on the on going activity and adapt the image transmission rate as well.