Abstract A large volume of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet drains through the Totten Glacier (TG) and is thought to be a potential source of substantial global sea-level rise over the coming centuries. We show that the surface velocity and height of the floating part of the TG, which buttresses the grounded component, have varied substantially over two decades (1989–2011), with variations in surface height strongly anti-correlated with simulated basal melt rates ( r = 0.70, p < 0.05). Coupled glacier–ice shelf simulations confirm that ice flow and thickness respond to both basal melting of the ice shelf and grounding on bed obstacles. We conclude the observed variability of the TG is primarily ocean-driven. Ocean warming in this region will lead to enhanced ice-sheet dynamism and loss of upstream grounded ice.

Abstract Thermal observations of volcanic activity when the volcano is partially covered by clouds or observed under a wide-scan angle are often removed from further analyses. In the event of a volcanic crisis, such a reduced set of data is not adequate. Even when the observation conditions are favourable, the full observation set is still required to provide decision-makers with quality information about the data. Automatic quality estimation and outlier detection was not estimated in the past. We propose to analytically define the uncertainty for individual observations based on the measurement circumstances. To additionally reduce the temporal noise of the radiant power ( RP ) time series we apply a Kalman Filter (KF). The KF is able to recursively analyse an unevenly sampled time series. Based on some proposed rules, it can also detect outliers. We apply the proposed methodology to the 2008–09 Etna eruption monitored by MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer). The analysis of the results shows that the topography has a greater influence on RP than previously considered.

Abstract A method is presented for integrating structural and alteration interpretations based on regional remote sensing magnetic and infrared spectral data. Integrated interpretations can provide insight about the controls that basement structural architecture exerts over porphyry mineralization. The method is illustrated by a study of the porphyry-endowed Kerman belt of Iran, for which structural interpretations of EMAG2 first vertical derivative magnetic data were refined using alteration lineaments interpreted from Landsat-8 infrared spectral data. This method makes use of regional linear alteration trends indicative of lithologic discontinuities to refine and to enhance the understanding of deep-seated structures interpreted from regional magnetic data. The integrated structural and alteration analysis of the Kerman belt of Iran highlights a first-order fault that is interpreted continuously at depth over approximately 500 km strike length and shows good spatial correlation with the location of most porphyry deposits and prospects. The analysis also allows for the visualization of a premineralization regional dilational zone that hosts the most prolific portion of the Kerman porphyry belt.

Abstract Creating accurate soil maps at large scales using traditional methods is a timeconsuming and expensive process. However, remote-sensing techniques can provide spatially and spectrally contiguous data in a timely manner. For this study, 20 root zone soil moisture maps derived from Landsat images during the growing season were used for the detection of soil boundaries. A split moving-window analysis along two demonstration transects in, respectively, a semi-arid desert and riparian area located in the Middle Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico showed that remotely sensed root zone soil moisture can reveal subsurface trends that can be used to identify soil boundaries that do not have a strong surface expression. Overall, the use of multiple remotely sensed root zone soil moisture and Landsat images for soil boundary delineation shows great promise of becoming a valuable tool in the field of digital soil mapping.

Although the evolution of Brazilian coastal depositional systems in the Quaternary has been studied in past decades, it is only in the last couple of years that it has been possible to incorporate the latest remote sensing databases available to help understand their development. In comparison to other freely accessible imagery, high-resolution images available on Google Earth are advantageous when undertaking local coastal analysis. In some instances, it is possible to differentiate geomorphologic features such as tidal deltas, beach ridges, and dunes. Also, the monitoring of small-scale features allows evaluation of the sensitivity of coastal zones to high-frequency and low-intensity processes. Thus, the downscaling description of coastal zones is now easily accessible, permitting the analysis of the extensive Brazilian coastal depositional systems. On the regional scale, a quick glance of a coastal setting may help frame the sedimentary characteristics of the depositional system. Coastal areas in the States of Santa Catarina and São Paulo are taken into consideration in this study. These areas illustrate representative prograded barrier formations from Middle to Late Holocene with dunes formed at a later development stage. A comparison is made in the use of Google Earth and its historic images with aerial photographs and Landsat images. In the past, small-scale features of these regions were evaluated in aerial photographs, while regional features were studied by low-resolution satellite images. Accordingly, integration of these two products was difficult. In this work, we show that Google Earth facilitates the analysis as a whole. Furthermore, comparison of Google Earth images with aerial photographs from 1938 onward allowed the study of short-term migration and deflation of the dunefields probably accelerated in recent years by human interference. In addition, Keyhole Markup Language (KML) files were saved from Google Earth placemarks to facilitate georeferencing raster images on GIS programs. Finally, information available from previous local studies, such as luminescence dating, geomorphology of the costal system, grain size, heavy minerals, pollen, and carbon isotope analyses, was gathered into a Google Fusion Table database making data retrieval and parsing easily accessible. This database provides information that can be shared with other researchers and may be used to address important questions about the development of Brazil's coastal system in the past, present, and future.

The Atakor massif is a part of the Hoggar volcanic province, which was emplaced on top of a basement swell initiated during the Cretaceous. There have been three main episodes of volcanic activity since the Miocene, separated by long periods of quiescence. The lava flows and domes were emitted along lithosphere-scale fault zones. With its famous scenery, the Atakor massif is one of the largest (2150 km 2 ) volcanic districts of the province. Mafic volcanic rocks are abundant in the center of the massif, but become scarce to the south, where only few scarps are observed. Phonolites occur only in the Assekrem area, whereas trachytes occur everywhere, with a marked enrichment in quartz to the south and the southeast (Tahifet area), where rhyolites are also exposed. Two magmatic groups have been identified based on field and petrological observations. The mafic group has a basanite-phonotephrite association, forming uplifted plateaus, scoria cones, and valley-filling lava flows. The presence of mantle-derived amphibole ± biotite megacrysts and peridotite mantle xenoliths together with the nonprimary chemical compositions of the magmatic rocks suggest that magmatic differentiation may have occurred within the upper mantle. The felsic group is composed of two diverging trends, a silica-saturated benmoreite-trachyte-rhyolite trend and a silica-undersaturated trachyte-phonolite trend. The primary magmas are considered to have been produced as a consequence of lithospheric mantle delamination along linear megashear zones inducing low degrees of decompression partial melting at variable depths (110–40 km) in the upwelling asthenosphere. The discrete volcanic episodes correspond to periods of reactivation of the major fault zones in response to discrete Neogene extensional tectonic events associated with Alpine orogenesis in the Western Mediterranean region induced by Africa-Eurasia collision.

Abstract Medium-resolution Landsat5 TM (thematic Mapper) and Landsat7 ETM+ (Enhanced thematic Mapper) satellite data were used to investigate multitemporal land-cover changes in the Wuda and Ruqigou-Gulaben coal basins of China between 1987 and 2002. The surficial distribution of coal as detected by remote sensing may be an important indicator of mining activity. Coal that is exposed on the surface may appear as seams in openpit mines; the coal also may occur in storage and waste piles, as refuse at the entrance to a mine, or as coal dust covering areas adjacent to the exposed coal. Because both coal basins are affected by coal fires, monitoring surficial features, including the expansion of coal, is crucial for evaluating the risk for a coal fire. This risk increases where new, often private, mines develop. Remote-sensing data reveal that the increasing number of exposures of coal in the Wuda and Ruqigou-Gulaben coal basins between 1987 and 2002 is correlative with an increase in mining activity there and the associated surficial coal dust adjacent to mining-transport networks. The data also reveal an increase in small-scale private coal mines, especially in the eastern part of the Wuda Coalfield. Such mines often suffer from inadequate mining and environmental regulations and are at high risk for coal fires. Satellite-based detection and in situ verification of new coal fires during field campaigns in 2003 and 2005 confirmed that land-cover analysis is useful for the identification of potential locations for coal fires. The changes that were observed in all other land cover in the Wuda and Ruqigou-Gulaben coal basins represent the more general dominant spatial dynamics in the two regions.

Abstract Remote-sensing imagery is often used for detecting and monitoring coal fires. The Landsat7 Enhanced thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) sensor and its predecessors of the Landsat family were frequently utilized for that purpose. With Landsat5 quickly approaching the end of its lifetime and the partial malfunction of Landsat7 in 2003, other potential sensors, including Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrora-diometer (MODIS), merit investigation. One kilometer MODIS data were successfully acquired and analyzed to detect coal fires in China during one summer and two winter night scenes. Band ratios of MODIS bands 20/32 enhanced subpixel-sized hot spots over background values, and an automated thermal anomaly algorithm was an asset in extracting potential coal-fire locations. for areas with known subsurface fires, between 0% and 17% were correctly detected in the three images. Areas with surface fires had success rates of 42% to 49%. These results indicate that MODIS is potentially useful for monitoring large areas for newly developing surface coal fires. Most subsurface coal fires, however, remain undetected.

The present study describes the coastal land and seafloor morphology of the Sinis Peninsula (West Sardinia, Italy). Based on the analysis of the wave motion hydrodynamic, the 7500 yr B.P. shoreline is outlined. The potential causes of the transportation of deposits, which have been reworked from aplitic dykes from the Mal di Ventre Islet to the central-southern coast of the peninsula, are investigated on the basis of 7500 yr B.P. seafloor wave motion transformations and relative field of velocity analysis.

With the introduction of many new types of remotely sensed imagery in recent years, opportunities to compare and integrate these data abound. In this paper, we present a hue-saturation-value (HSV) transformation approach for the fusion of surface roughness and shallow subsurface information from Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (AIRSAR) data with surface spectral reflectivity from Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) data. The fused image is informative and brings out new features that are not evident in the original images, and it also helps to identify many features that are not clear in the original images. In this paper, we also present a combined principal components analysis (CPCA) approach to effectively remove the banding noise that degrades the radar image quality. We examine the differences in surface roughness, texture, and penetration ability at different radar frequencies, the differences between radar and optical (ETM+) images, and the utility of radar images in mapping morphologically defined structures such as fault scarps. The earthquake-related active faults in the Franklin Mountains and Valentine region in West Texas are presented as examples of successful applications of data fusion.

The Agrio fold-and-thrust belt is located between 37°S and 38°S latitude in the eastern part of the Neuquén Andes. The belt can be divided into a western inner sector and an eastern outer sector. The inner sector is characterized by a thick-skinned deformation style. The dominant structures are large anticlines produced by the inversion of half-grabens formed during the Triassic-Jurassic extension that initiated the Neuquén Basin. The outer sector is characterized by thin-skinned structures; recent studies have shown that these structures have been reactivated in a thick-skinned style. A long-standing question has been whether the deformation in this belt occurred in a continuous pulse or in two independent pulses. The analyses of synorogenic deposits, crosscutting relationships between magmatic rocks and sedimentary formations, and new single-crystal 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages from volcanic rocks presented here indicate a minimum age of 102 Ma for the beginning of deformation in this belt and that deformation occurred in at least two pulses, one during the Lower to Middle Cretaceous, and a second one in the middle Miocene, with different degrees of propagation into the foreland.

Abstract This field trip consists of stops in four locations that provide insight into the San Andreas fault along the San Francisco peninsula. The first two stops provide an overview and close-up look at the fault where no urbanization has occurred. The last two stops are examples of areas where urbanization occurred directly over the fault prior to current regulations. The field trip also addresses the history of, and seismic hazard issues related to, an important part of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission's (SFPUC) water-supply system, which is located along the San Andreas fault.