Software

List of free and open volcanological software:

REFIR

REFIR is a Python software package for monitoring volcanic eruptions in real-time. Volcanoes that are readily implemented after installation are e.g., the Icelandic volcanoes Hekla, Eyjafjallajökull, Katla, Grímsvötn, Barðabunga, Askja and Öræfajökull, but also any other volcano on the Earth can be easily added. In an explosive volcanic eruption, REFIR uses data from radar and other sensors to assess the plume height and to estimate, under consideration of the current weather situation, the mass flux ("mass eruption rate"). This parameter is crucial for predicting the concentration of ash in the atmosphere. Atmospheric volcanic ash is potentially harmful for aircraft and its fallout is perilious for humans and kettle. Early knowledge of its future distribution might therefore be life-saving.
Therefore, the British Geological Survey (BGS) is one of the REFIR users. REFIR plays an important role for their task as expert advisor for the British Government.
During an eruptive event, it is foreseen that the Institute of Earth Science (IES) assists the Icelandic Met Office (IMO) and Almannavarnir (Civil Defense) by providing their expertise on the current status and possible future development of an ongoing eruption. REFIR is an ideal tool for monitoring the current eruptive status and aiding with prognoses. It is hence planned to operate REFIR on a 24/7 basis with a trained crew, who will work in a shift system.
REFIR is, however, not meant to be used only in exclusive circles. It is an open and free software, and researchers and students from all over the world are invited to join, by running REFIR on their own computers, with their own parameter settings and ideas. Ideally this collective intelligence will lead to an improvement of prediction qualities.

Download:

https://github.com/BritishGeologicalSurvey/REFIR

Literature:

  • Dürig, T., Gudmundsson, M.T., Dioguardi, F., Woodhouse, M., Björnsson, H., Barsotti, S., Witt, T. and Walter, T.R. (2018): REFIR- A multi-parameter system for near real-time estimates of plume-height and mass eruption rate during explosive eruptions. J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res., 360, 61-83. doi: 10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2018.07.003
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  • Dioguardi F., Beckett F., Dürig T. and Stevenson, J.A. (2020): The impact of eruption source parameter uncertainties on ash dispersion forecasts during explosive volcanic eruptions. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos. 125 (17), e2020JD032717. doi: 10.1029/2020JD032717

PARTISAN

PARTISAN (PARTicle Shape ANalyzer) is a free and open source Matlab script that allows the user to parametrize the 2D shapes of grains, such as volcanic ash particles. Next to research purposes, the morphology of ash grains are important indicators for the eruptive style. A sudden change in particle shapes might indicate a change of the explosive pattern that created them. PARTISAN provides .csv files, quantifying a grain's morphology by 23 non-dimensional shape parameters from the 5 morphometric systems most common volcanology.

Download:

>>click here<<

Literature:

  • Dürig, T., Bowman, M.H., White, J.D.L., Murch, A., Mele, D., Verolino A. and Dellino, P. (2019): PARTIcle Shape ANalyzer PARTISAN – an open source tool for multi-standard two-dimensional particle morphometry analysis. An. Geophys., 61, 31. doi: 10.4401/ag-7865

DendroScan

DendroScan is a free and open source Matlab script that allows the user to compare morphometric data sets by conducting multivariate statistical analyses. DendroScan offers the user via a GUI (graphical user interface) the application of various statistical methods, including T-tests, equivalence tests, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and ANOVA-based dendrogrammatic analysis of particle morphometry (DAPM). Results are presented as dendrograms (tree diagrams) which are straight-forward to interpret. DendroScan works in tandem with  PARTISAN, but can also be used in combination with other image shape analysis scripts (e.g., with ImageJ).

Download:

https://github.com/lsschmidt/DendroScan

Literature:

  • Dürig T., Schmidt, L.S., White J.D.L., Bowman, H.M. (2020): DendroScan – an open source tool to conduct comparative statistical tests and dendrogrammatic analyses on particle morphometry. Sci. Rep. 10:21682.
    doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-78698-0