Global monitoring of volcanic SO2 degassing with unprecedented resolution from TROPOMI onboard Sentinel-5 Precursor
Journal article, 2019

Over the last four decades, space-based nadir observations of sulfur dioxide (SO2 ) proved to be a key data source for assessing the environmental impacts of volcanic emissions, for monitoring volcanic activity and early signs of eruptions, and ultimately mitigating related hazards on local populations and aviation. Despite its importance, a detailed picture of global SO 2 daily degassing is difficult to produce, notably for lower-tropospheric plumes, due largely to the limited spatial resolution and coverage or lack of sensitivity and selectivity to SO2 of current (and previous) nadir sensors. We report here the first volcanic SO2 measurements from the hyperspectral TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) launched in October 2017 onboard the ESA’s Sentinel-5 Precursor platform. Using the operational processing algorithm, we explore the benefit of improved spatial resolution to the monitoring of global volcanic degassing. We find that TROPOMI surpasses any space nadir sensor in its ability to detect weak degassing signals and captures day-to-day changes in SO2 emissions. The detection limit of TROPOMI to SO2 emissions is a factor of 4 better than the heritage Aura/Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI). Here we show that TROPOMI SO2 daily observations carry a wealth of information on volcanic activity. Provided with adequate wind speed data, temporally resolved SO2 fluxes can be obtained at hourly time steps or shorter. We anticipate that TROPOMI SO2 data will help to monitor global volcanic daily degassing and better understand volcanic processes and impacts.

Author

N. Theys

Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB)

P. Hedelt

German Aerospace Center (DLR)

I. De Smedt

Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB)

C. Lerot

Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB)

H. Yu

Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB)

J. Vlietinck

Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB)

M. Pedergnana

German Aerospace Center (DLR)

Santiago Arellano

Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Microwave and Optical Remote Sensing

Bo Galle

Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Microwave and Optical Remote Sensing

D. Fernandez

Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS)

C. J.M. Carlito

Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS)

Charlotte Barrington

Nanyang Technological University

B. Taisne

Nanyang Technological University

H. D. Granados

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

D. Loyola

German Aerospace Center (DLR)

M. Van Roozendael

Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB)

Scientific Reports

2045-2322 (ISSN) 20452322 (eISSN)

Vol. 9 1 2643

Subject Categories

Physical Geography

Environmental Sciences

Geosciences, Multidisciplinary

DOI

10.1038/s41598-019-39279-y

PubMed

30804392

More information

Latest update

11/19/2019