The Earthquake Commission (EQC) is funding researchers from Victoria University of Wellington to acquire and study vital data from White Island’s hot and toxic volcano cloud.
According to research leader Ian Schipper, gases in the island’s volcanic cloud, or “plume,” can give an early warning of what is happening inside the volcano. Until now, it has not been possible to measure gases closer than several hundred metres from the plume.
The idea is that researchers will use new technology to bring back this information from the heart of the volcano.
“We are using specially hardened and built drones to measure right in the densest part of the plume to get the true volcanic signals,” Schipper said.
By sampling gases inside the plume, researchers said study can provide an indication when the volcano could be building up to an eruption. Drones still don’t allow continuous monitoring, but allow high-quality measurements that would otherwise be impossible to get at all, he said.
“Until now samples have been taken downwind so you don’t know how much the gases have been diluted or changed as they travelled through air,” Schipper said. “The toxic gases and difficulty of access make it too dangerous, or impossible, for a human to take a sample right in the plume.”
“Dr. Schipper and his team are developing technology that will let us sample all the components of a volcano plume,” EQC science and education manager Richard Smith said. “Using the drones will also make it much easier to keep a regular eye on volcanic activity so that we have more opportunity to reduce the impact of an eruption.”
Schipper added that drones are just starting to be used around the world to get more accurate data from volcanoes that could help forecast eruptions – critical information for New Zealand’s emergency management and industries such as tourism.
White Island is the ideal place to perfect the sampling technology and drone operation for New Zealand conditions. “Once we know it works there, we can use it anywhere,” he said.
Each year, EQC funds $16 million of research to reduce the impact of natural disaster on people and property. This project is one of EQC’s Biennial Research Grants.
