Abstract
Abstract. Sulphur dioxide (SO2) fluxes of active degassing volcanoes are routinely measured with ground-based equipment to characterize and monitor volcanic activity. SO2 of unmonitored volcanoes or from explosive volcanic eruptions, can be measured with satellites. However, remote-sensing methods based on absorption spectroscopy generally provide integrated amounts of already dispersed plumes of SO2 and satellite derived flux estimates are rarely reported. Here we review a number of different techniques to derive volcanic SO2 fluxes using satellite measurements of plumes of SO2 and investigate the temporal evolution of the total emissions of SO2 for three very different volcanic events in 2011: Puyehue-Cordón Caulle (Chile), Nyamulagira (DR Congo) and Nabro (Eritrea). High spectral resolution satellite instruments operating both in the ultraviolet-visible (OMI/Aura and GOME-2/MetOp-A) and thermal infrared (IASI/MetOp-A) spectral ranges, and multispectral satellite instruments operating in the thermal infrared (MODIS/Terra-Aqua) are used. We show that satellite data can provide fluxes with a sampling of a day or less (few hours in the best case). Generally the flux results from the different methods are consistent, and we discuss the advantages and weaknesses of each technique. Although the primary objective of this study is the calculation of SO2 fluxes, it also enables us to assess the consistency of the SO2 products from the different sensors used.
Highlights
Instrumentation Methods and1.1 Importance of SO2 Dfluaxteas inSvyoslcteanmo smonitoring can be measured with satellites
Note that after the first week of the eruption, the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) SO2 signal close to Nabro is quite small, indicating low altitude SO2 plumes and most information on the emissions is brought by the GOME-2 data
Before inspecting the inverted fluxes, let us first compare the SO2 columns retrieved from GOME-2 or IASI and simulated by FLEXPART using the retrieved emissions
Summary
Instrumentation Methods and1.1 Importance of SO2 Dfluaxteas inSvyoslcteanmo smonitoring can be measured with satellites. During erupintegrated amounts of already dispersed plumes of SO2 and satellite derived flux estimates are rarely reported. M rive volcanic SO2 fluxes using satellite measurements of plumes of SO2 and investigate the temporal evolution of the total emissions of SO2 for three very different volcanic events in 2011: Puyehue-Cordon Caulle (Chile), Nyamulagira (DR Congo) and Nabro (Eritrea). High spectral resolution satellite instruments operating both in the ultravioletvisible (OMI/Aura and GOME-2/MetOp-A) and thermal the Earth’s crust. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is one of the most abundant compounds among volcanic gases (e.g., Le Guern et al, 1982; Symonds eHt ayl.d, 1r9o9l4o; ganyd aOpnpdenheimer et al, 2te0r1a1n, damisotnhgeromthoedrys)n.aSmiinEccaelalytrhtiuhsngsStaasbyliesstvaeterlmyowsotleumblpeeirnatuwrae-, the presence of SO2 in volcanicSpcluimeenscisecsharacteristic of a high emission temperature. SO2 plumes are the markers of infrared (IASI/MetOp-A) spectral ranges, and multispec- volcanic activity that may be classified into two main types
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