Tuneable Diode Laser for measuring CO2 and CO air concentration on New Zealand volcanoes: An emerging technique

A new technique, called Open-Path laser, has been used for monitoring of CO2 degassing in volcanic areas in New Zealand. The purpose of these surveys is to have a better knowledge in the spatial and temporal dynamics of CO2 degassing in the atmosphere. CO2 is less reactive than other volcanic gases. CO is present in lesser amounts in volcanic gases but the CO/CO2 ratio is a good indicator of the redox conditions at depth because a change in the ratio can be related to a new input of magma in the volcanic system. This presentation introduces the new laser based technique for future volcanic gas surveillance at Ruapehu volcano, New Zealand. Frequent mild to moderate explosive eruptions have occurred in historical time from the crater lake of Ruapehu with the last hydrothermal eruption occurring in September 2007. The pH of the lake is around 1.1 with lake temperatures ranging from 10 to 60 oC. CO2 emission measurements have been made since 2003 from an airborne platform at a constant distance from the summit and the data were processed using the plume contouring method. The total CO2 emission rate varies from not detectable to 2200 t/day. We here show new results from a measurement campaign conduced 23 May, 2012 over the Ruapehu Crater lake and show how paths are reduced to CO2 values. The values are then compared to long term measurements obtained on the airborne platform. This technique has been also used on another New Zealand volcano, Tongariro which showed volcano seismic unrest beginning in mid-July 2012. The last eruption at the Tongariro volcano was from Te Maari craters in 1897 with reported ash fall as far as Napier 115 km away from the volcano. In response to this activity, we conducted a range of geochemical sampling including, spring sampling and soil gas measurements. In addition, we tested the Tuneable Diode Laser to measure CO2 air concentration. The new method may prove useful for geochemical gas surveillance in combination with the geodetic and seismological volcano monitoring techniques.