Deep learning artificial intelligence keeps an eye on volcano movements

RADAR satellites can collect massive amounts of remote sensing data that can detect ground movements--surface defomations--at volcanoes in near real time. These ground movements could signal impending volcanic activity and unrest; however, clouds and other atmospheric and instrumental disturbances can introduce significant errors in those ground movement measurements. Now, Penn State researchers have used artificial intelligence (AI) to clear up that noise, drastically facilitating and improving near real-time observation of volcanic movements and the detection of volcanic activity and unrest. "The shape of volcanoes is constantly changing and much of that change is due to underground magma movements in the magma plumbing system made of magma reservoirs and conduits," said Christelle Wauthier, associate professor of geosciences and Institute for Data and Computational Sciences (ICDS) faculty fellow. "Much of this movement is subtle and cannot be picked up by the naked eye."