We report here on Vulcamera, a stand-alone program for the determination of volcanic SO2 fluxes using ultraviolet cameras. The code enables field image acquisition and all the required post-processing operations

Aiuppa, A.

Kantzas, E. P.

McGonigle, A. J. S.

Tamburello, G.

Earth-prints Repository

Vulcamera: a program for measuring volcanic SO2 using UV cameras
Giancarlo Tamburello1,*, Euripides P. Kantzas2, Andrew J. S. McGonigle2,3, Alessandro Aiuppa1,3
1 Università degli Studi di Palermo, Dipartimento DiSTeM, Palermo, Italy
2 University of  Sheffield, Department of  Geography, Sheffield, UK
3 Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, sezione di Palermo, Palermo, Italy
ANNALS OF GEOPHYSICS, 54, 2, 2011; doi: 10.4401/ag-5181
ABSTRACT
We report here on Vulcamera, a stand-alone program for the determination
of  volcanic SO2 fluxes using ultraviolet cameras. The code enables field
image acquisition and all the required post-processing operations.
Remote spectroscopic observations of  volcanic SO2
fluxes are a mainstay of  observational volcanology. Such
data have greatly strengthened our understanding of
volcanic dynamics and the impacts of  volcanic degassing
to the atmosphere [Tamburello et al. 2011a]. A recent
development of  note has been the imaging of  volcanic
plumes using ultraviolet (UV) cameras [Mori and Burton
2006, Bluth et al. 2007].
UV cameras can provide numerous benefits, such as:
high time resolution, which enables the capture of  transient
explosive events [Yamamoto et al. 2008, Mori and Burton
2009]; the possibility to spatially resolve heterogeneous
operations, e.g., fumarole field sources [Tamburello et al.
2011b], and single-point operations. Furthermore, the
camera images can be used to directly measure the plume
transport velocity, potentially a major source of  uncertainty
in these measurements [e.g., McGonigle et al. 2005,
Williams-Jones et al. 2006].
Here we present Vulcamera, a stand-alone, user-friendly
code for measuring volcanic SO2 fluxes using UV cameras.
The code consists of  two elements: Vulcamera_aq and
Vulcamera_post, which manage the image acquisition and
all of  the elements of  post-processing, respectively.
Vulcamera is downloadable from https://sites.google.com/
site/giancarlotamburello/, and it includes detailed instructions.
Vulcamera will work with the Apogee Instruments U260 and
E6 units; however, we recommend the U260, given its higher
signal-to-noise ratio and faster data transfer. Vulcamera is
designed to operate with two cameras, simultaneously, with
bandpass filters centered on 310 nm and 330 nm. It is
imperative to use two filters in these observations, to
compensate for aerosol attenuation/backscattering, and this
approach minimizes temporal mismatches associated with
filter changes on a single camera [Kantzas et al. 2010].
In particular, the functions of  the code include:
characterization of  vignetting via the collection of  clear sky
images to compensate for this angular dependency on pixel
illumination; determination of  the calibration relationships
between absorbance and SO2 cell concentrations, to enable
conversion of  the measured field images into ppm m
concentration maps; use of  simultaneously acquired
spectroscopic SO2 flux data to calibrate the images; and,
finally, feeding back of  all of  these operations to the main
page of  Vulcamera_post, which leads to the computations
of  the SO2 flux time series and gas masses associated with
explosions.
Vulcamera has been extensively field tested with
southern Italian volcanoes, and it is hoped that others will
find this useful to realize the significant volcanological
potential of  UV camera technology.
Article history
Received March 29, 2011; accepted May 16, 2011.
Subject classification:
Gases, Volcano monitoring, Instruments and techniques, General or miscellaneous.
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References
Bluth, G.J.S., J.M. Shannon, I.M. Watson, A.J. Prata and V.J.
Realmuto (2007). Development of  an ultra-violet digital
camera for volcanic SO2 imaging, J. Volcanol. Geotherm.
Res., 161, 47-56; doi: 10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2006.11.004.
Kantzas, E.P., A.J.S. McGonigle, G. Tamburello, A. Aiuppa
and R.G. Bryant (2010). Protocols for UV camera volcanic
SO2 measurements, J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res., 94, 55-
60; doi: 10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2010.05.003.
McGonigle, A.J.S., D.R. Hilton, T.P. Fischer and C. Oppen-
heimer (2005). Plume velocity determination for volcanic
SO2 flux measurements, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L11302;
doi: 10.1029/2005GL022470.
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fast and cheap method for ground-based imaging of  SO2
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Tamburello, G., A.J.S. McGonigle, E.P. Kantzas and A. Aiuppa
(2011a). Recent advances in ground-based ultraviolet
remote sensing of  volcanic SO2 fluxes, Annals of
Geophysics, this volume.
Tamburello, G., E.P. Kantzas, A.J.S. McGonigle, A. Aiuppa
and G. Guidice (2011b). UV camera measurements of
fumarole field degassing (La Fossa crater, Vulcano
Island), J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res., 199, 47-52; doi:
10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2010.10.004.
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*Corresponding author: Giancarlo Tamburello,
Università degli Studi di Palermo, Dipartimento DiSTeM, Palermo, Italy;
email: giancarlotamburello@gmail.com.
© 2011 by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia. All rights
reserved.
VULCAMERA: A NEW CODE FOR SO2 IMAGING
Figure 1 (previous page). Screen shot of  the main screen of
Vulcamera_post when in operation during the post-processing of  volcanic
degassing images from Stromboli volcano (Italy). Graph A and Graph B
show the raw image files taken from the two cameras, with filters at 310
nm and 330 nm, respectively, showing the gas attenuation in Graph A.
These images can be flipped as appropriate and are vignette corrected on
the basis of  operations that take place on the vignetting page. A profile
across the rising gas plume is identified in Graph A using the L and R
cursors, the intensities across which are presented in the profiles in the
Section graph. The calibration data, as obtained from the calibration page,
are entered into the appropriate fields to the centre-right of  the screen, to
generate both the pseudocolor graph of  the concentrations across the
images shown in the top right, and the concentrations across the L-R
profiles in the Section ppm m/absorbance field. All of  the above are then
used to generate the integrated column amount time series of  the
explosive gas masses via the bottom-right window.


Vulcamera: a program for measuring volcanic SO2 using UV cameras

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Vulcamera: a program for measuring volcanic SO2 using UV cameras

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