Search results for "GAS"

Gas Emissions From the Western Aleutians Volcanic Arc

2021

The Aleutian Arc is remote and highly active volcanically. Its 4,000 km extent from mainland Alaska to Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula hosts over 140 volcanic centers of which about 50 have erupted in historic times. We present data of volcanic gas samples and gas emission measurements obtained during an expedition to the western-most segment of the arc in September 2015 in order to extend the sparse knowledge on volatile emissions from this remote but volcanically active region. Some of the volcanoes investigated here have not been sampled for gases before this writing. Our data show that all volcanoes host high-temperature magmatic-hydrothermal systems and have gas discharges typical of volc…

Plume chemistry provides insights into the mechanisms of sulfur and halogen degassing at basaltic volcanoes,

2004

This paper deals with sulfur, chlorine and fluorine abundances in the eruptive volcanic plume of the huge October 2002-January 2003 eruption of Mount Etna, aiming at relating the relevant compositional variations observed throughout with changes in eruption dynamics and degassing mechanisms. The recurrent sampling of plume acidic volatiles by filter-pack methodology revealed that, during the study period, S/Cl and Cl/F ratios ranged from 0.1-6.8 and 0.9-5.6, respectively. Plume S/Cl ratios increased by a factor of ∼10 as volcanic activity drifted from paroxysmal lava fountaining (mid- and late November) to passive degassing and minor effusion (early January), and then decreased to the low v…

A wider view on possible causes of observed BrO/SO2 – CO2/SO2 correlations – during volcanic degassing variations

2013

New Techniques for real-time volcanic gas measurements: the UV camera

2012

In this study, I take advantage of a novel technique - the UV camera - to image SO2 emissions from the Italian volcanoes with improved high temporal resolution. Here, this technique has been updated to a new configuration (dual-camera system), which combines higher temporal resolution (0.5-1.2 Hz) and improved accuracy relative to the single-camera setup. The methodology has been extensively tested and improved, whilst developing a user-friendly control software (Vulcamera) and a calibration technique (in tandem DOAS-SO2 quartz cells calibration), which simplify instrument deployment, acquisition and data analysis. A first application was focused on SO2 gas flux measurements at individual fuma…

Gas fluxes and compositions of two active volcanoes in Northern Chile: Lascar and Lastarria

2013

The Central Andes Volcanic Zone of northern Chile comprises a ~1200 km long volcanic district extending from the Atacama region on the northe to the Arica and Parinacota region.Lascar and Lastarria are among the most actively degassing volcanoes of the several (more than 30) potentially active in the region. They both host persistent fumarolic fields and generate sustained plumes above the main craters. Here, we report on simultaneous in-situ and remote volcanic gas measurements aimed at obtaining the very first degassing budget for major volatiles released by these fumarolic fields. Using quick deployable scanning DOAS and SO2 camera systems we obtained time-averaged SO2 fluxes of ~ 500 t …

Plume composition changes during the birth of a new lava lake - Nyamulagira volcano, DR Congo

2016

Nyamulagira, in the Virunga Volcanic Province (VVP), Democratic Republic of Congo, is one of the most active volcanoes in Africa. The volcano is located about 25 km north-northwest of Lake Kivu in the Western Branch of the East African Rift System (EARS) with a distance of only 15 km to Nyiragongo, which is well known for its decades-old active lava lake. Nyamulagira is a shield volcano with a 3058 m high and 2000 m wide summit caldera. The volcano is characterized by frequent eruptions, which occur both from the summit crater and from the flanks (31 flank eruptions over the last 110 years). Due to the low viscosity lava, although significantly higher than the one of Nyiragongo, wide lava f…

A Low-Cost Smartphone Sensor-Based UV Camera for Volcanic SO2 Emission Measurements

2017

Recently, we reported on the development of low-cost ultraviolet (UV) cameras, based on the modification of sensors designed for the smartphone market. These units are built around modified Raspberry Pi cameras (PiCams; ≈USD 25), and usable system sensitivity was demonstrated in the UVA and UVB spectral regions, of relevance to a number of application areas. Here, we report on the first deployment of PiCam devices in one such field: UV remote sensing of sulphur dioxide emissions from volcanoes; such data provide important insights into magmatic processes and are applied in hazard assessments. In particular, we report on field trials on Mt. Etna, where the utility of these devices in quantif…

Devices and methods to measure H2 and CO2 concentrations in gases released from soils and low temperature fumaroles in volcanic areas

2009

A model of degassing for Stromboli volcano

2010

International audience; A better understanding of degassing processes at open-vent basaltic volcanoes requires collection of new datasets of H2O–CO2–SO2 volcanic gas plume compositions, which acquisition has long been hampered by technical limitations. Here, we use the MultiGAS technique to provide the best-documented record of gas plume discharges from Stromboli volcano to date. We show that Stromboli's gases are dominated by H2O (48–98 mol%; mean, 80%), and by CO2 (2–50 mol%; mean, 17%) and SO2 (0.2–14 mol%; mean, 3%). The significant temporal variability in our dataset reflects the dynamic nature of degassing process during Strombolian activity; which we explore by interpreting our gas m…

A CO2-gas precursor to the March 2015 Villarrica volcano eruption

2017

We present here the first volcanic gas compositional time-series taken prior to a paroxysmal eruption of Villarrica volcano (Chile). Our gas plume observations were obtained using a fully autonomous Multi-component Gas Analyser System (Multi-GAS) in the 3 month-long phase of escalating volcanic activity that culminated into the 3 March 2015 paroxysm, the largest since 1985. Our results demonstrate a temporal evolution of volcanic plume composition, from low CO$_2$/SO$_2$ ratios (0.65-2.7) during November 2014-January 2015 to CO$_2$/SO$_2$ ratios up to ≈ 9 then after. The H$_2$O/CO$_2$ ratio simultaneously declined to <38 in the same temporal interval. We use results of volatile saturatio…