Monitoring Indonesian Volcanoes Using a Low-Cost,
Continuously Operating GPS System

Volcanoes are an awesome display of Nature's power. In addition, volcanic explosions are often very destructive events having a massive impact on the natural and human environment. Volcanoes pose a particularly significant threat to the country of Indonesia, which is home to 129 active volcanoes. 18 million Indonesians, 10% of the total population, live in areas under threat from volcanic eruptions. SNAP, in partnership with the Volcanology Survey of Indonesia and the Department of Geodetic Engineering, at the Institute of Technology Bandung (ITB), undertook a project to develop a GPS-based volcano monitoring system which is an improvement on existing GPS methods.

Ground deformation is a phenomenon ideally suited for study using GPS. GPS systems measure the change in length (as well as height difference and orientation) of baselines connecting receivers in a carefully monumented ground network established across the volcano by repeatedly measuring the same baseline components on a regular basis. A network of permanent, continuously operated GPS stations can be deployed to mitigate natural hazards such as due to sudden volcanic activity through the continuous measurement of a deformation, which if it were to exceed some predefined amount could alert the appropriate authorities.

The SNAP design is significantly cheaper than the conventional GPS systems, and is based on single-frequency GPS hardware (Canadian Marconi Co.), integrated within hardened aluminium boxes with an embedded PC and UHF radio for transmitting the data to the master station.

This project was commenced by graduate student Craig Roberts. The 'enhanced' version incorporates a few additional dual-frequency GPS receivers to improve accuracy (as described elsewhere), and this integration was part of the PhD research of Volker Janssen. Download a PDF file giving further information on this project

A more robust version is being developed by SNAP researchers in collaboration with the company GPSatSystems Australasia.

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