More than 70 passive sensors on Mount Etna have captured the first radon measurements in volcanic plumes and show that radon could affect people around volcanoes.
Volcanic gases
Posted inNews
Lethal Volcanic Gases at an Italian Country Club
High levels of carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide emitted by volcanic outgassing caused a deadly accident near Rome, Italy, in 2011, geoscientists have shown.
Posted inNews
Human Activity Outpaces Volcanoes, Asteroids in Releasing Deep Carbon
Humanity’s carbon emissions are, by far, the largest disturbance to Earth’s steady state carbon cycle.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Crystals Connect Bubbles in Explosive Magmas
Hydrous silica-rich magmas can degas through connected bubble pathways when as little as 20% crystals are present, influencing transitions from explosive, Vulcanian-style eruptions to lava effusion.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Volcano in Iceland Is One of the Largest Sources of Volcanic CO2
High-precision airborne measurements, in combination with atmospheric modeling, suggest that the Katla subglacial caldera may be one of the planet’s biggest sources of volcanic carbon dioxide.
Posted inScience Updates
Drones Swoop in to Measure Gas Belched from Volcanoes
A team of volcanologists, chemists, physicists, and engineers from around the world test novel techniques at Central America’s two largest degassing volcanoes.
Posted inScience Updates
Radon Tells Unexpected Tales of Mount Etna’s Unrest
Readings from a sensor for the radioactive gas near summit craters of the Italian volcano reveal signatures of such processes as seismic rock fracturing and sloshing of groundwater and other fluids.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Looking Inside an Active Italian Volcano
Scientists use 3-D imaging to reveal Solfatara crater’s inner plumbing.
Posted inNews
Volcano’s Toxic Plume Returns as Stealth Hazard
During a closely watched eruption, plumes of harmful sulfur dioxide gas morphed into “plumerangs” of sulfuric-acid-rich aerosols that descended on populated parts of Iceland.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Can Water Vapor Help Forecast When a Volcano Will Blow?
A widely used technique to monitor sulfur dioxide was tweaked to focus on water vapor at Peru’s Sabancaya Volcano. Results show that the volcano steamed up prior to its 2016 eruption.