geopython-hekla

This repository contains the slides for my presentation at the GeoPython 2018 conference.

It uses reveal.js to render the slides in the browser. You can view the slides online at:

https://rawgit.com/volcan01010/geopython-2018/master/index.html

REPRODUCIBLE GEOSCIENCE: VOLCANIC ERUPTION VOLUME CALCULATIONS USING PYTHON, GRASS 7 AND PANDAS

Dr John A Stevenson, British Geological Survey

3 cm thick here, 0.5 cm there, 3 metres thick over there! Volcanic eruptions cover the landscape in pumice and ash. But how much was erupted? Python is the glue that joins open source GIS (GRASS7) and data science (Pandas) tools used to create a reproducible method to calculate erupted volume.

Abstract

Performing GIS analysis via scripts is the ultimate way to "show your working" as each step is documented in code. Even better, the analysis can be repeated with a single command and can be updated as new data become available. The PyGRASS interface provides a simple way to run spatial analysis in GRASS and to integrate it with pre- and post-processing steps within the same script.

We show how Python and GRASS were used to calculate the volume of material erupted by two large (>10 cubic kilometres volume), pre-historic eruptions of Iceland's Hekla volcano. Firstly, Python is used to read field and lab data from CSV files into an SQLite database. Pyproj re-projects GPS locations to the local coordinate reference system. Within GRASS, Voronoi tessellation is used divide the area where the deposits are found into regions that each contain one sample data point. Maps can be exported to visualise changes in thickness. After calculating the areas of the Voronoi cells, the Python-based Pandas library can connect to the same database and multiply the deposit thickness by the calculated area to get the volume in each. These are summed to give the total erupted volume.

Unlike traditional methods, this is an entirely objective and data-driven way to calculate the erupted volume. The advantages and disadvantages of this, and the best ways to incorporate manual steps where required will be discussed.

Notes

• The calculated volume corresponds to one part (Phase A) of the Hekla 3 eruption. These are preliminary results.
• Full source code and results will be made available when the study is published.
• If you want to try these methods on your own data before then, get in touch and I may be able to help you.
• During preparation of data for this talk, Voronoi polygons were clipped to within the Iceland 'bounding box'. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to fix this before the talk. Therefore the volume derived from the Voronoi method is underestimated.