Rates of volcanic CO2 degassing from airborne determinations of So2 emission rates and plume CO2/SO2: Test study at Pùu Òò cone, Kilauea volcano, Hawaii

Abstract

We present an airborne method that eliminates or minimizes several disadvantages of the customary plume cross-section sampling method for determining volcanic CO2 emission rates. A LI-COR CO2 analyzer system (LICOR), a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer system (FTIR), and a correlation spectrometer (COSPEC) were used to constrain the plume CO2/SO2 and the SO2 emission rate. The method yielded a CO2 emission rate of 300 td-1 (metric tons per day) for Pùu Òò cone, Kilauea volcano, on 19 September 1995. The CO2/SO2 of 0.20 determined from airborne LICOR and FTIR plume measurements agreed with the CO2/SO2 of 204 ground-based samples collected from vents over a 14-year period since the Pùu Òò eruption began in January 1983. Copyright 1998 by the American Geophysical Union.