Abstract
Ultraviolet imaging has been applied in volcanology over the last ten years or so. This provides considerably higher temporal and spatial resolution volcanic gas emission rate data than available previously, enabling the volcanology community to investigate a range of far faster plume degassing processes than achievable hitherto. To date, this has covered rapid oscillations in passive degassing through conduits and lava lakes, as well as puffing and explosions, facilitating exciting connections to be made for the first time between previously rather separate sub-disciplines of volcanology. Firstly, there has been corroboration between geophysical and degassing datasets at ≈1 Hz, expediting more holistic investigations of volcanic source-process behaviour. Secondly, there has been the combination of surface observations of gas release with fluid dynamic models (numerical, mathematical, and laboratory) for gas flow in conduits, in attempts to link subterranean driving flow processes to surface activity types. There has also been considerable research and development concerning the technique itself, covering error analysis and most recently the adaptation of smartphone sensors for this application, to deliver gas fluxes at a significantly lower instrumental price point than possible previously. At this decadal juncture in the application of UV imaging in volcanology, this article provides an overview of what has been achieved to date as well as a forward look to possible future research directions.
Highlights
Volcanic activity is observed in a number of primary ways: firstly, by measurements of geophysical signatures, e.g., seismic, thermal, and acoustic; and secondly, through observations of gases released from summit craters, flanks, or fumaroles [1]; petrology plays a key role here in respect of magma geochemistry
During the last two decades, there has been a major renaissance in volcanic gas monitoring, arising from the implementation of exciting new ground-based technologies for measuring the gases released in volcanic plumes
These approaches have been of utility in increasing our understanding of the underground processes that drive surface activity, as well as in routine volcano monitoring operations. These recently applied techniques fall into two categories: firstly, those that concern the chemical composition of the gases, e.g., Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy [2] and MultiGAS units [3]; and secondly, those that capture emission rates or fluxes, for example correlation spectrometers (COSPECs), differential optical absorption spectrometers (DOAS units), and ultraviolet (UV) cameras
Summary
Volcanic activity is observed in a number of primary ways: firstly, by measurements of geophysical signatures, e.g., seismic, thermal, and acoustic; and secondly, through observations of gases released from summit craters, flanks, or fumaroles [1]; petrology plays a key role here in respect of magma geochemistry. During the last two decades, there has been a major renaissance in volcanic gas monitoring, arising from the implementation of exciting new ground-based technologies for measuring the gases released in volcanic plumes These approaches have been of utility in increasing our understanding of the underground processes that drive surface activity, as well as in routine volcano monitoring operations. Notwithstanding the benefits of the above technology, and its service within the volcanology community, the flux data are limited in time resolution to a datum every 100 s or so, due to the requirement to physically scan or traverse the plume, which effectively provides time-integrated assessments of emissions on this timescale This is too slow to resolve many rapid gas-driven volcanic processes, e.g., puffing and strombolian explosions, such that the acquired data cannot be used to investigate the driving underground fluid dynamics in these cases. The only way to scrutinise these more rapid phenomena was via geophysical data, which are acquired at frequencies of at least
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