The accelerating application of remote sensing to geological hazards is facilitated by collaborations in earth’s most hazardous regions; Central America is subject to frequent eruptions, landslides, earthquakes and hurricanes and is near the US science community, but is nonetheless sparsely investigated. We aim to stimulate this kind of international effort by gathering the critical US science and Central American counterpart groups.

Broader impacts: This proposal will fund 30 participants, 15 from the US and 15 from the Americas, to attend a workshop hosted at the University of Costa Rica for two weeks of lectures, computer laboratory and field experiences aimed at Remote Sensing for Mitigation of Natural Hazards in Latin America. We expect to use the event to further develop human and social science aspects of hazards research which have begun to emerge. In addition to developing a special publication of workshop products, we expect this event to 1) increase the number of scientists working on hazards research in universities, government agencies and non-governmental organizations in both the US and the Americas, and 2) foster communication among these institutions, and 3) build stronger collaborative relationships as a result of this workshop.

While the planned workshop includes fundamental aspects of remote sensing and digital image processing, the topics will be presented in the context of new developments for studying volcanic processes and hazards. Goals of the workshop include: 1) increasing awareness of available data and instruments for collecting data, 2) increasing proficiency in acquiring and processing data, 3) increasing awareness of the availability of tools for processing remotely sensed data, and 4) enabling more effective and comprehensive archiving and sharing of data. The workshop curricula will be designed in a manner to best serve the participants, while understanding the broad range of participants’ technical background and institutional support, as well as equipment and funding at their disposal.