NSF PR 97-26 - March 27, 1997
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A Safer Way to Monitor Volcanoes? World's Scientists
Finding an Answer
Volcano expert Stanley Williams of Arizona State University
in Tempe barely survived an eruption that killed several
of his colleagues while taking gas samples on the
side of a Colombian volcano named Galeras.
That was four years ago. Since then, Williams has
been working on instruments that monitor changes in
a volcano's gas output. These changes could forecast
a major eruption -- from a safer distance. One of
the instruments, a device called COSPEC, is designed
to be set up on a volcano's flank to measure how much
sulfur dioxide gas is spewing out of its caldera.
"COSPEC is driven or flown around the perimeter of
a volcano," explains Williams, "or set up at some
safe distant point."
The instrument measures the absorption of solar ultraviolet
radiation by certain gases in a volcanic plume, thereby
providing volcanologists with an early warning. As
the amount of sulfur dioxide in the plume increases,
an eruption becomes more likely. COSPEC recently provided
a life-saving warning of the eruption of Mount Pinatubo,
and helped scientists pinpoint when the Rabaul volcanic
eruption was coming to an end.
With funding from the National Science Foundation,
Williams has convened a workshop -- to take place
at Arizona State from April 12 through 19 -- that
will bring together virtually all scientists in the
world who now use COSPEC to monitor volcanoes. Some
25 volcanologists from 14 countries will attend.
Participants in the upcoming workshop will work on
calibrating the 19 instruments currently in use so
that all COSPECs are comparable in their optics and
electronics, as well as standardized in the method
of their use. Scientists want data from the instruments
to be consistent from one volcano observatory to another.
The group's "test volcano" is a nearby coal-fired
power plant, which emits sulfur dioxide.
Participants will spend the first three days of the
workshop in the lab, then three more in the field.
The scientists will bring complete COSPEC arrays with
them, and will discuss such questions as to how best
to monitor ash in a volcanic plume, how to determine
wind velocity in the area of an erupting volcano and
how to incorporate use of GPS instrumentation in their
research.
Says Williams, who is also working on a remote-access
instrument named GASPEC that measures carbon dioxide
gas in a volcanic plume, "We might not be able to
stop an eruption, but through use of instruments like
COSPEC and GASPEC, we can help people survive it."
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