The

Volcano

logists

The Volcanologists

INTERVIEW

a bed of powder and a laser, and where

the laser hits, the powder solidifies. It’s

to an accuracy of something like 0.1 of

a millimetre.

The great thing about having a

3D-printed part is that we can make this

bespoke. We can change the filter as and

when we need to look for other gases.

And it makes good sense. We can

actually build scientific-grade instruments

using stuff that high-school students know

how to do. How cool is that?

AMcG The reason for using that approach

is that you can measure the gas release

very quickly, at the frame rate of the

camera, once a second or so. And that

enables you to look at really quick

processes going on in the volcano. So

the time resolution is really important –

you’re basically taking the volcano’s pulse.

Previous techniques could only measure

a few times a day, or a few times an

hour, so now we’re getting a much better

handle on what the volcano’s doing. The

reason for that is that volcanic activities

are driven by gas; the gas is pressurised,

and that causes explosions. Often those

gas release patterns change very quickly

depending on bubble bursts. That’s why

people got into cameras. Previously there

were spectroscopic techniques whereby, in

10 or 15 minutes, you could work out how

much gas was coming out. That’s a useful

workhorse in measuring gas release in

volcanoes across the world.

But if you want to understand

something like ‘how does an explosion

work’, an explosion on Stromboli would

last ten seconds. Taking a measurement

every ten minutes would be useless.

But the two techniques are quite

complementary. If you use spectroscopy

along with UV monitoring, you can get a

better calibration for your remote sensing.

HS Haven’t you also had interest in this

kit from NASA?

AMcG The whole business model of NASA

has changed. Rather than landing single

objects that cost a billion dollars, like an

Apollo lander, they’re now more interested

Above

Sulphur dioxide concentrations show up in

real time on the captured images

Below

The kit comprises two Raspberry Pis, two camera

modules, 3D printed parts and a UV-transmissive lens