Recently, a research team led by Shi Pilong from the UNESCO International Centre for Space Technologies in Natural and Cultural Heritage (HIST) visited Wudalianchi Global Geopark to carry out five-day full-area remote sensing monitoring and geoheritage assessment. This field campaign marks a new phase in the decade-long partnership between HIST and Wudalianchi. Space information technology is equipping China’s best-preserved inland volcanic cluster with a high-precision, multi-dimensional "tech vision".

Full-area Scanning: Digital Archiving of the 14 Volcanoes

Deploying high-precision remote sensing equipment, the HIST team collected high-resolution spatial data covering Wudalianchi’s 14 volcanoes formed over a 2-million-year geological evolution. Integrating multi-platform tools including satellite remote sensing, aerial photography and ground LiDAR, the team completed full-cycle geomorphological monitoring spanning ancient to young volcanoes and built centimeter-level 3D terrain models.

Typical volcanic landforms such as lava platforms and spatter cones and discs are heavily covered by vegetation. To tackle this challenge, researchers adopted multi-source remote sensing detection technologies to penetrate vegetation cover and accurately extract the spatial distribution and geomorphic details of eruptive structures. This fills the gap in refined digital archiving of volcanic landforms across Wudalianchi, laying a solid data foundation for subsequent dynamic monitoring and scientific conservation.

Integrated Space-Air-Ground System: Data-Driven Scientific Conservation

The on-site assessment fully demonstrates the vital supporting role of space technology in geoheritage conservation. The team integrated multi-source remote sensing data to quantitatively analyze volcanic vegetation succession and ecological restoration on lava platforms, revealing the spatial pattern of co-evolution between volcanic landforms and vegetation.

Compared with traditional field surveys conducted manually, space technology boosts overall survey efficiency by dozens of times. It enables monitoring across the entire 790.11 square kilometers of the global geopark and facilitates Wudalianchi’s development of an integrated space-air-ground monitoring system, shifting geoheritage conservation from experience-based judgment to data-driven management.

A Decade of Joint Efforts: Toward Long-Term In-Depth Cooperation

HIST established a training base in Wudalianchi back in 2015. Bilateral cooperation has expanded steadily from early satellite remote sensing monitoring and ecological resettlement planning to the current construction of a digital scenic area monitoring system. High-end remote sensing data supports an integrated monitoring network that comprehensively safeguards volcanic geoheritage as well as local wildlife and plant resources.

The field assessment provides critical remote sensing data for Wudalianchi Global Geopark’s UNESCO revalidation. It is reported that HIST and the Administrative Committee of Wudalianchi Scenic Area will deepen cooperation in dynamic volcanic heritage monitoring, climate change research, international training and exchanges, jointly building a demonstration site for space technology application among volcanic global geoparks worldwide.

From pilot trials to full-scale comprehensive implementation, space technology revives dormant volcanic relics in the digital era. This decade-long technology-backed conservation journey not only records the cooperative development of HIST and Wudalianchi Global Geopark, but also serves as a vivid practice of China’s participation in effective global geopark governance, contributing Chinese solutions to targeted conservation of geoparks around the world.

Background Note

HIST is the world’s first UNESCO Category 2 Centre specializing in space technologies, hosted by the Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences. It aims to provide technical support for the monitoring, conservation and management of World Heritage Sites, Biosphere Reserves and Global Geoparks via space technologies.

Wudalianchi Global Geopark boasts China’s best-preserved inland volcanic relics. Its 14 volcanoes and five string-shaped barrier lakes form a unique volcanic landscape, known as a "natural volcanic museum" and an "open textbook of volcanic activity" left by Quaternary volcanic eruptions.