There have been more than 50 eruptions of Mt. Cotopaxi alone since 1738. With its height of 5,897 meters it is more than 3,000 meters higher than the surroundings. The base of this stratovolcano has a width about 23 km.
Numerous valleys formed by powerful Lahars (mudflows) surround the volcano. Lahars can cause severe damage even 300 km away from the volcano. This poses a high risk to the local population, their settlements and fields. Interferometry is especially useful in monitoring such dangerous volcanoes. Highly accurate observations of changes in volcanoes from space can provide vital parameters for early warning systems, without risk to the lives of scientists.
Parts of this article are from the NASA Earth Observatory; [1]
