Visualizing Sulfur Dioxide in Volcanic Plumes Using UV CCD Cameras

Abstract

Volcanic gas plays key roles in various volcanic activities. Thus, measurements of volcanic gas chemistries and its fluxes are important for understanding volcanic activities. Although, UV spectrometers have been used in conventional volcanic sulfur dioxide flux measurements, visualization technique of sulfur dioxide in volcanic plumes are now used for understanding behaviors of volcanic plumes and for high temporal resolution flux measurements. The technique uses two UV sensitive CCD cameras with bandpass filters which are within and outside the UV wavelength range of sulfur dioxide absorption, respectively. By using the visualization technique, volcanic gas observation has been improved extensively and is now able to link with geophysical observations. In this article, the method for the visualization technique and its application in volcanic gas measurements are described.