Aerial strategies advance volcanic gas measurements at inaccessible, strongly degassing volcanoes
Journal article, 2020
Volcanic emissions are a critical pathway in Earth's carbon cycle. Here, we show that aerial measurements of volcanic gases using unoccupied aerial systems (UAS) transform our ability to measure and monitor plumes remotely and to constrain global volatile fluxes from volcanoes. Combining multi-scale measurements from ground-based remote sensing, long-range aerial sampling, and satellites, we present comprehensive gas fluxes-3760 ± [600, 310] tons day-1 CO2 and 5150 ± [730, 340] tons day-1 SO2-for a strong yet previously uncharacterized volcanic emitter: Manam, Papua New Guinea. The CO2/ST ratio of 1.07 ± 0.06 suggests a modest slab sediment contribution to the sub-arc mantle. We find that aerial strategies reduce uncertainties associated with ground-based remote sensing of SO2 flux and enable near-real-time measurements of plume chemistry and carbon isotope composition. Our data emphasize the need to account for time averaging of temporal variability in volcanic gas emissions in global flux estimates.
Author
E. J. Liu
University College London (UCL)
University of Cambridge
A. Aiuppa
University of Palermo
A. Alan
University of Costa Rica
Santiago Arellano
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Microwave and Optical Remote Sensing
Marcello Bitetto
University of Palermo
N. Bobrowski
Max Planck Society
Heidelberg University
Simon Carn
Michigan Technological University
R. Clarke
University of Bristol
E. Corrales
University of Costa Rica
J. M. De Moor
National University Costa Rica
J. A. Diaz
University of Costa Rica
M. Edmonds
University of Cambridge
Tobias P. Fischer
University of New Mexico
J. Freer
University of Bristol
University of Saskatchewan
G. M. Fricke
University of New Mexico
Bo Galle
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Microwave and Optical Remote Sensing
G. Gerdes
Gerdes Solutions
G. Giudice
National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology
A. Gutmann
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
C. Hayer
University of Manchester
I. Itikarai
Rabaul Volcano Observatory
J. Jones
University of New Mexico
E. Mason
University of Cambridge
B. T. McCormick Kilbride
University of Manchester
K. Mulina
Rabaul Volcano Observatory
S. Nowicki
University of New Mexico
K. Rahilly
University of New Mexico
T. Richardson
University of Bristol
J. Rüdiger
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
C. I. Schipper
Victoria University of Wellington
I. M. Watson
University of Bristol
K. Wood
University of Bristol
Science advances
2375-2548 (eISSN)
Vol. 6 44 abb9103Subject Categories
Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences
Physical Geography
Environmental Sciences
DOI
10.1126/sciadv.abb9103
PubMed
33127674