USING REFLECTANCE SPECTROSCOPY TO CHARACTERIZE SURFACE LANDFORMS AND VOLCANIC DEPOSITS ON DECEPTION ISLAND (ANTARCTICA)

Deception Island is an active volcano in the Antarctic Peninsula region, affected by different geomorphological processes interacting to form a complex mosaic of landforms and deposits. The use of visible near infrared reflectance is an ideal tool for characterizing and monitoring surface covers and substrates. The objective of this work was to use reflectance spectroscopy to identify spectral characteristics of surface covers related to different volcanic deposits in ice-free areas of Deception Island, South-Shetland Islands. A site specific spectral library containing 220 reference spectra was compiled. Image-derived spectra from multispectral satellite data were easily labeled using the reference spectra. A preliminary distribution has distinguished five different deposit types over the entire area of Deception Island.