Mori, T.

Active subaerial volcanoes often discharge large amounts of CO2 and H2S to the atmosphere, not only during eruptions but also during periods of quiescence. These gases are discharged through focused (plumes, fumaroles, etc.) and diffuse emissions. Several studies have been carried out to estimate the global contribution of CO2 and H2S emitted to the atmosphere by subaerial volcanism, but additional volcanic degassing studies will help to improve the current estimates of bothCO2 andH2S discharges. In October 2008, a wide-scale survey was carried out at Mt. Etna volcano, one the world’s most actively degassing volcanoes on Earth, for the assessment of the total budget of volcanic/hydrothermal discharges of CO2 and H2S, both from plume and diffuse emissions. Surface CO2 and H2S effluxes were measured by means of the accumulation chamber method at 4075 sites, covering an area of about 972.5 km2. Concurrently, plume SO2 emission at Mt. Etna was remotely measured by a car-borne Differential Optical Absorption Spectrometry (DOAS) instrument. Crater emissions of H2O, CO2 and H2S were estimated by multiplying the plume SO2 emission times the H2O/SO2, CO2/SO2 and H2S/SO2 gas plume mass ratios measured in situ using a portable multisensor. The total output of diffuse CO2 emission from Mt. Etna was estimated to be 20,000 ± 400 t day-1 with 4520 t day-1 of deep-seated CO2. Diffuse H2S output was estimated to be 400 ± 20 kg day-1, covering an area of 9.1 km2 around the summit craters of the volcano. Diffuse H2S emission on the volcano flanks was either negligible or null, probably due to scrubbing of this gas before reaching the surface. During this study, the average crater SO2 emission rate was *2100 t day-1. Based on measured SO2 emission rates, the estimated H2O, CO2 and H2S emission rates from Etna’s crater degassing were 220,000 ± 100,000, 35,000 ± 16,000 and 510 ± 240 t day-1, respectively. These high values are explained in terms of intense volcanic activity at the time of this survey. The diffuse/plume CO2 emission mass ratio at Mt. Etna was *0.57, that is typical of erupting volcanoes (mass ratio\1). The average CO2/SO2 molar ratio measured in the plume was 11.5, which is typical of magmatic degassing at great depth beneath the volcano, and the CO2/H2S mass ratio in total diffuse gas emissions was much higher (*11,000) than in plume gas emissions (*68). These results will provide important implications for estimates of volcanic total carbon and sulfur budget from subaerial volcanoes.

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.

SO2 flux is widely monitored on active volcanoes as it gives a window into the hidden, subsurface magma dynamics. We present here a new approach to SO2 flux monitoring using ultraviolet imaging of the volcanic plume through carefully chosen filters to produce images of SO2 column amount. The SO2 camera heralds a breakthrough in both our ability to measure SO2 flux at unprecedented frequencies (2 Hz) and at unprecedented accuracy, thanks to the application of correlation techniques to determine wind speed directly from the images and the ability to measure the whole profile simultaneously. In this paper we detail the commercially available pieces required to construct the SO2 camera, introduce a retrieval scheme to determine SO2 amounts from the images and present results from a field campaign in November 2005 on Sakurajima volcano, Japan.

An infrared absorption spectroscopy remote sensing technique was used to determine the S02/HCl ratio in fumarolic plumes at Vulcano, Italy. The measurements were made from the southern crater rim of Fossa Grande Crater, about 400 m from the fumarolic area in the crater. Infrared absorption spectra of HCl and SO, were observed for four fumaroles a few tens of metres apart using the hot fumarolic surface as an infrared light source. The measured S02/HCl ratios in the FA, F47, FW and lower parti of the F21 fumaroles were 4.5-5.4, 3.5, 9.5-11.2 and 5.8 respectively. The S02/HCl ratio of the FA fumarole was higher than that of the gas collected directly in the fumarolic vent (S02/HCl ratio = 2.9), and was closer to the S~,,,,,,/HCl ratio (= 4.6) of the collected gas. Our results show that the SO,/HCl ratios of two fumaroles only a few tens of metres apart exhibits differences of about twofold. This suggests that this remote monitoring technique is capable of detecting spatial distribution in the S02/HCl ratios of volcanic plumes. Because temporal variations in S/Cl ratios can provide precursory signals for volcanic eruptions [l-31, this remote sensing technique can used efficiently for evaluation of volcanic activity.