Drone by Drone has collaborated with the CSIC, Higher Center for Scientific Research, and with the IPNA, Institute of Natural Products and Agrobiology, in the acquisition of aerial data and its processing on the lava flows of the Cumbre Vieja Volcano on the island of The Palm.
The drone operating company of Bizkaia has carried out aerial surveys for the realization of digital models of the area affected by the volcano in 3D, for the study of the singular areas of the eruption on La Palma, the end of which has been officially announced by the authorities few days ago, after several months of eruption.
3D models have been generated resulting from photogrammetric flights with drone, in order to study the volcano-tectonic control of the eruption of La Palma in 2021. These studies seek to clarify the relationship that the fractures of the terrain visible on the surface could have with the present eruption. The geologist Pablo José González Méndez, a researcher in vulcanology at the Institute of Natural Products and Agrobiology-CSIC, will be able to study cracks and lava tubes, to carry out possible prediction and behavior models of this type of phenomenon.
These more realistic models could help to interpret the different processes, trying to reduce the volcanic risk on the planet, allowing the integration of information on changes in the elevation of the land due to volcanic activity.
Digital terrain models made by drones and processed using photogrammetry techniques, based on more than 3000 photographs, have covered about 200ha over the municipality of Las Manchas, famous for the cemetery devastated by the lava flows.
During the eruption of the volcano on La Palma, it has been possible to verify the usefulness of the use of drones in tasks of monitoring the volcano, measuring affected infrastructures or carrying out digital models of the evolution of the flows, for example. The UAS or drones, are becoming fundamental tools for this type of catastrophic situations, for which Drone by Drone, as a UAS operating company, provides support to the administrations and institutions involved in their management.
