SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Dec. 14 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Innovation Service of the Cabildo de La Palma has created a new application that allows the consultation of the digital models of elevation of the lava flow of the volcano, a basic tool and of great utility to analyze the new territory, how it has changed and to be able to analyze aspects of as much importance in terms of safety as the behavior of the water in case of torrential rains and its channeling before possible lahars, as well as contributing to the planning of future infrastructures.
This has been stated by the counselor responsible for the area, Gonzalo Pascual, who has valued the work that is being deployed from the Service not only to contribute to the management of the volcanic emergency and, therefore, to the safety of people, but also with a view to planning the future of the Aridane Valley.
For the development of this system, it has been necessary to carry out drone flights in order to carry out a detailed survey of the entire casting area, in order to make a high-precision Digital Terrain Model (DTM), in particular, a Digital Elevation Model, using the model generated with Grafcan data as a comparative reference.
The technology used allows the creation of maps and extremely precise 3D models of these areas, generating the model of elevations, shadows, and the calculation of the height of lava and its volume, as well as a high resolution orthophoto of the day of the flight.
Among the data obtained through this model, it stands out that the maximum height recorded is 188 meters in the cone (5 times the size of the tower of the main building of the Cabildo); the height of the low island has reached 57 meters in the area near the cliff, and the volume of the runoff, as of November 19, was 159 million cubic meters (159.6 hm3). In the same way, it is worth noting the interest represented by the shadow model, which allows the volcanic tubes created by the flows to be accurately detected.
The Innovation Service of the Cabildo de La Palma plans to carry out new campaigns in the coming days, to keep the model updated and analyze the process in more detail. All data is available on the open data portal (www.opendatalapalma.es) and a model-specific app has been created in https://arcg.is/DziHn .