Submesoscale structures monitoring and detection by satellite imagery: El Hierro island submarine volcano

Abstract

The island off the Atlantic coast of North Africa, El Hierro (Canary Island), has been rocked by thousands of tremors and earthquakes since July 2011, and an underwater volcanic eruption 300 meters below sea level started on October 10, 2011 Thanks to this natural tracer release, low resolution satellite images obtained from MODIS and MERIS sensors have been processed for monitoring the volcanic plume evolution and it has provided a unique and outstanding source of tracer that may allow us to study submesoscale front-like and filament-like structures. These structures have been monitored and detected using an advanced methodology based on an initial structure segmentation algorithm combined by a structure growing technique.