Risk Analysis of Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii

Tyler LancasterRandy Winowiecki

Background information

● Shield volcano in the Southeast corner on the island ● Known to be one of the most active volcanoes in the

world● Lava has low viscosity (travels farther)

Research questions

● What are the damages that could be done to the surrounding area?

● Which areas will be affected the most from potential lava flow?

Hazard Analysis

Volcanic Hazard Lava Flow

Hazard Analysis Population

Economic Vulnerability Infrastructure

Agriculture

Methods

● Acquired ALL data from hawaii.gov○ Digital Elevation Model

○ Landsat

○ Population by census data

○ City locations

○ Land use land cover

● Ran the DEM through the Flow Direction tool● Ran the Flow Direction through the Basin tool● Raster to polygon with the Basin layer● Add all values in symbology tab

Drainage basins for Hawaii

Methods, cont.● Made a polygon of the vent of the Kilauea Volcano● Clipped 8 nearest drainage basins

Methods, cont.

● Ranked 8 basins by distance to vent (highest risk being the closest)

● Clipped population and roads to the 8 basins● Ran Statistics tool on the area and length on them● Clipped land cover land use to the 8 basins● Ran Summarize tool to find the sum of the land cover

types in the 8 basins● Ranked each of the vulnerabilities and calculated the

final hazard analysis based on the ranks given

Volcanic Hazards

● Ranking of the lava flow is based on each drainage basins distance from the vent

Economic vulnerability

Population - 35,486 people

Roads - 629 miles

Hospital - 1

Economic Vulnerability, cont.Land Cover Types in Drainage Basins:

● Agricultural Vegetation - 17,908 acres● Developed Land - 2,471 acres● Forest/Woodland - 122,563 acres● Introduced Vegetation - 37,772 acres● Mixed Wetlands - 2 acres● Nonvascular/Sparse Rock Vegetation - 51,130

acres● Open Water - 14 acres● Shrubland/Grassland - 33,839 acres

Ranking

Results: Hazard Analysis

Drainage basin #1

● Population = 8,715 people● Developed land = 1,000 acres● Roads = 200 miles● Agriculture = 8,530 acres

Sources

● http://planning.hawaii.gov/gis/download-gis-data/

Hawaii planning website

● http://landcover.usgs.gov/landcoverdata.php

United States Geographical Survey

● http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanowatch/archive/2002/02_03_21.html

USGS Article on Kilauea Volcano activity