Quantification of the gas mass emitted during single explosions on Stromboli with the SO2 imaging camera

Abstract

We performed measurements using an SO2 imaging camera of the SO2 gas mass emitted during five discrete explosive events on Stromboli volcano on 3 October 2006. The SO2 gas mass released during discrete explosions was 15–40 kg per explosion, producing 3–8% of the total daily SO2 gas emission, demonstrating that in terms of gas flux Strombolian explosions are a second-order phenomenon compared with quiescent degassing. Using the typical gas composition measured with OP-FTIR allows us to determine the total gas mass released during an explosion as 360–960 kg with a volume of 1500–4100 m3 at 1 bar. At the probable source pressure of gas slug formation of 75 MPa this gas amount would occupy a volume equivalent to a sphere with a radius of 0.8–1 m, comparable with estimates of Stromboli's conduit geometry.