Real-time simultaneous detection of volcanic hg and SO2 at la fossa crater, vulcano (aeolian islands, sicily)

Journal article

Measuring Hg/SO2 ratios in volcanic emissions is essential for better apportioning the volcanic contribution to the global Hg atmospheric cycle. Here, we report the first real-time simultaneous measurement of Hg and SO2 in a volcanic plume, based on Lumex and MultiGAS techniques, respectively. We demonstrate that the use of these novel techniques allows the measurements of Hg/SO2 ratios with a far better time resolution than possible with more conventional methods. The Hg/SO2 ratio in the plume of FO fumarole on La Fossa Crater, Vulcano Island spanned an order of magnitude over a 30 minute monitoring period, but was on average in qualitative agreement with the Hg/SO2 ratio directly measured in the fumarole (mean plume and fumarole ratios being 1.09 × 10-6 and 2.9 × 10-6, respectively). The factor 2 difference between plume and fumarole compositions provides evidence for fast Hg chemical processing, the plume. Copyright 2007 by the American Geophysical Union.

Authors: Aiuppa, A; Bagnato, E; Witt, M; Mather, T; Parello, F

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
• Volume: 34
• Issue: 21
• Publication date: 2007-11-13
• DOI: 10.1029/2007GL030762
• ISSN: 0094-8276
• Language: English