Morphometric Analysis of Mount Etna Lava Flows Using High Resolution Digital Elevation Models

Morphometric analysis of lava flows provides crucial information for a better understanding of the processes of lava flow dynamics and emplacement. In this thesis, high-resolution DEMs obtained by the airborne LiDAR system and the UAV-SfM system are used for an extensive morphometric analysis of the Mount Etna (Italy) lava flow. A digital comparison of pre- and post-eruptive LiDAR DEMs of Etna was made to quantify the lava volumes emitted in the 2004-2005, 2005-2006 and 2007-2010 intervals. The erupted volume of 2004-2005 is ~63.3 × 106 m3 entirely emitted by the 2004-05 eruption. The erupted volume of 2005-2007 is ~ 42.0 × 106 m3, of which ~33.5 × 106 m3 emitted by the September-December 2006 eruption. The erupted volume of 2007-2010 is >86 × 106m3, most of which (~74 × 106m3) is formed by the lava flows of the 2008-2009 flank eruption. Lava flow morphometric analysis was performed over LiDAR DEM for eleven channel-fed lava flows through a semi-automatic procedure and using SVF and openness down parameters to better detect and delimit surface-specific elements, i.e. lava levees, base and channel-bed. The results show an inverse relation between slope and channel width, a certain coherence between average slope of levees and pre-emplacing slope, and the same trend between the channel width and channel-bed width. Finally, in order to investigate less costly methods for producing DEMs, we created a high-resolution DEM of the 1974 lava flow using the UAV-SfM system and then we compared it with the LiDAR-derived DEM. The UAV-SfM system can be effectively used to produce topographic data for large areas with an accuracy and resolution that are even higher than those of the LiDAR system. Therefore, the UAV-SfM system can be effectively used to update the topography of active volcanic areas with reasonable costs and short time of deployment.