Remember how OpenTopography.org recently posted LIDAR surveys of Kilauea from 2009, June and July 2018?
Well, volcanology PhD student Fumihiko Ikegami (@fikgm on Twitter) has been creating great 3D renders using this data. Click on images below for large-size views of each render.
You can turn, zoom, and view this 3D model from any angle:
Here is the interactive 3D model on the web #TopoUSM + #Qgis2threejs with USGS July 2018 Kilauea LiDAR data. https://t.co/r3nYmzaBa6 pic.twitter.com/U7pSy5UtOY
— ⚒Fumihiko Ikegami🚢 (@fikgm) July 28, 2018
Before it all started— years ago, Ikegami created these using the 2009 data:
Here are 3D-rendered images of these great 2009 datasets of #Kilauea I have created couples of years ago. So impressed about the polygonal cracks on the caldera floor.https://t.co/RJWAU8NsSR pic.twitter.com/DKdglkZyt6
— ⚒Fumihiko Ikegami🚢 (@fikgm) May 11, 2018
More renders using July 2018 LIDAR data:
Here is the same slightly processed version of USGS July 2018 LiDAR showing the Kilauea summit. Crazy! pic.twitter.com/1yHM9Hi81q
— ⚒Fumihiko Ikegami🚢 (@fikgm) July 27, 2018
2009, June 2018, and July 2018 renders side by side:
In case if you are interested in the comparisons and profiles, here they are. Full of learnings about how faults propagate during the caldera collapse. Many thanks to @USGSVolcanoes and @OpenTopography for making such a remarkable data openly available! pic.twitter.com/IU7wix1QrZ
— ⚒Fumihiko Ikegami🚢 (@fikgm) July 27, 2018
At the beginning of July, he also played around with the June LIDAR survey of the summit:
And the car park at the southern Halemaumau with some comparisons. pic.twitter.com/9ybGNWTg83
— ⚒Fumihiko Ikegami🚢 (@fikgm) July 2, 2018
I’m having a little trouble interpreting his color coding, but I think the amount of red indicates the amount of change in elevation between 2009 and June 2018:
Here 2009 LiDAR of Kilauea via @OpenTopography was hastily subtracted from the new USGS June 2018 LiDAR at https://t.co/YhsczEsdfW . The result is wow. it's a perfect snapshot of asymmetrically collapsing caldera. (More reddish more subsidence) pic.twitter.com/8I8BR1TAeU
— ⚒Fumihiko Ikegami🚢 (@fikgm) July 2, 2018
Comparison in hillshade with the same Diff_2018-2009 overlay pic.twitter.com/VT3yExWu2g
— ⚒Fumihiko Ikegami🚢 (@fikgm) July 2, 2018
Moving away from the summit of the volcano, here’s the new lava delta, both above and below water. It’s strangely organic:
Interesting to see the morphology of the massive lava delta at Kapoho in @USGS Kilauea July 2018 LiDAR obtained via @OpenTopography. A quick cleaning was done using @CloudCompareGPL and then rendered with @QGIS and BlenderGIS. pic.twitter.com/hfym0hAk7g
— ⚒Fumihiko Ikegami🚢 (@fikgm) July 25, 2018
The light-colored maps superimpose pre-2018 topo map data on the current LIDAR data (as he explained when I asked). So the blue areas are where the ocean used to be, and the boundary of the blue area is the former shoreline.
His Twitter is a treasure trove of interesting volcanic stuff, including a lot of underwater volcanology:
These pillars, formed in a 1998 eruption of Axial Seamount, are holding up the upper crust of a lava flow. The ridges are formed as the lava drains gradually away, leaving bathtub ring-like features on the sides of the pillars.
(Thanks to @gacvip & @NOAA Nemo for the photo!) pic.twitter.com/8c5Z6l5NlQ
— GeoSciTweeps – Erik Klemetti (@GeoSciTweeps) February 8, 2018
So if you’re on Twitter and enjoy the shapes and forms volcanoes can create above and below water, follow @fikgm.