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.

Magmatic carbon dioxide (CO2) degassing has been documented before the 31 March 2000 eruption of Usu volcano, Hokkaido, Japan. Six months before the eruption, an increase in CO2 flux was detected on the summit caldera, from 120 (September 1998) to 340 metric tons per day (September 1999), followed by a sudden decrease to 39 metric tons per day in June 2000, 3 months after the eruption. The change in CO2 flux and seismic observations suggests that before the eruption, advective processes controlled gas migration toward the surface. The decrease in flux after the eruption at the summit caldera could be due to a rapid release of CO2 during the eruption from ascending dacitic dikes spreading away from the magma chamber beneath the caldera.

No abstract