Analyzing Sulfur Dioxide Emissions of Nyamuragira Volcano

Details Analyzing Sulfur Dioxide Emissions of Nyamuragira Volcano Analyzing Sulfur Dioxide Emissions of Nyamuragira Volcano

May 2002

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002agusm.v51a..02g&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2002, abstract #V51A-02

Physics

8499 General Or Miscellaneous

Scientific paper

Nyamuragira volcano, located in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is Africa's most active volcano, having erupted 13 times (every 1-3 years) since 1980. The eruption frequency, and the large amounts of sulfur dioxide emitted by this rift volcano, may produce a significant impact on the global sulfur budget. In this project we are attempting to quantify the sulfur dioxide emissions from this volcano over the past 20+ years using satellite data. Since 1978, satellites carrying NASA's Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) instruments have been orbiting the earth collecting atmospheric data. These instruments use six wavelength bands located within the ultraviolet spectrum to measure solar irradiance and the energy reflected and backscattered by the Earth's surface and atmosphere. Sunlit planetary coverage is provided once per day by TOMS data. The spatial resolution of these satellites varies from 24 km (Earth Probe, 1996-1997, but raised to 39 km from 1997 to present) to 62 km (Meteor-3, 1991-1994). Nimbus-7, the satellite operating for the longest span of time (1978-1993), had a nadir footprint of 50 km. The (instantaneous) mass retrievals of sulfur dioxide cloud masses are derived using several different image processing schemes and net tonnages are calculated using a background correction. Volcanic activity associated with this volcano typically consists of long term (weeks to months), and often continuous, effusive emissions. Work to date has discovered over 120 days in which sulfur dioxide plumes were observed from the 13 eruptions (ranging from a minimum of one day to a maximum of 32 days). Most (82%) of the sulfur dioxide clouds measured are relatively low-level, below 100 kilotonnes (kt); 16% of the emissions are between 100 and 1000 kt, and 1.5% were measured to have more than 1000 kt. Current work is focusing on deriving net emission fluxes, integrating the TOMS instantaneous measurements of relatively continuous emission activity. The eruptive activity and SO2 mass retrievals of Nyamuragira in 2001 are also being examined using infrared retrieval techniques, using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS).

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