Autonomous thermal camera system for monitoring the active lava lake at Erebus volcano, Antarctica

N Peters,P Kyle,C Oppenheimer

doi:10.5194/gi-3-13-2014

Abstract

Abstract. In December 2012, the Mount Erebus Volcano Observatory installed a thermal infrared camera system to monitor the volcano's active lava lake. The new system is designed to be autonomous, and capable of capturing images of the lava lake continuously throughout the year. This represents a significant improvement over previous systems which required the frequent attention of observatory researchers and could therefore only be operated during a few weeks of the annual field campaigns. The extreme environmental conditions at the summit of Erebus pose significant challenges for continuous monitoring equipment, and a custom-made system was the only viable solution. Here we describe the hardware and software of the new system in detail and report on a publicly available online repository where data will be archived. Aspects of the technical solutions we had to find in order to overcome the challenges of automating this equipment may be relevant in other environmental science domains where remote instrument operation is involved.

Highlights

Situated on Ross Island, Antarctica, the 3794 m-high crater of Erebus volcano has played host to an active phonolite lava lake since at least 1972 (Giggenbach et al, 1973)
The system was installed at the crater rim of Erebus in November 2012 and, other than a few minor issues with the camera being unable to focus to infinity when it was first mounted in the enclosure, it operated without any problems up until the end of the 2012 field season
We have presented in detail the characteristics of a new thermal camera system, which was installed on Erebus volcano in November 2012 designed for continuous, year-round www.geosci-instrum-method-data-syst.net/3/13/2014/

Summary

Introduction

Situated on Ross Island, Antarctica, the 3794 m-high crater of Erebus volcano has played host to an active phonolite lava lake since at least 1972 (Giggenbach et al, 1973). Much has been learned about magmatic processes by studying time-lapse photographs and video recordings of lava lakes (for example Orr and Rea, 2012; Dibble et al, 2008). Calkins et al, 2008; Oppenheimer et al, 2004) to studying surface velocity (Oppenheimer et al, 2009). They are used more widely as an operational tool in volcano monitoring Absorption of infrared radiation by volcanic gases makes accurate temperature measurements difficult to achieve (Sawyer and Burton, 2006), the ability to image through optically opaque volcanic plumes gives IR cameras a significant advantage over conventional cameras for monitoring lava lakes

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