She and her team flew these drones while inside the crater to compare distant atmospheric measurements with those closer to the source. They also used traditional ground sampling techniques to collect CO2 directly from the volcano’s gas vents.
Using their drone data, the researchers found concentrations that were 23 percent higher than usual atmospheric levels, indicating that, despite measuring far from the source, the samples contained enough volcanic CO2 to distinguish lo to the data. After accounting for the dilution, they confirmed that the amount matched their ground samples, proving that drones can work in lieu of in-person collection.
The team also measured how much of the CO2 was made up of carbon-13, a slightly heavier version of the element, which has 13 neutrons instead of the usual 12. They found that Poás had significantly higher carbon-13 content in 2019 compared to data collected just a week before the 2017 explosion. This is remarkable, says D’Arcy, because it suggests that carbon-13 levels can deplete -se shortly before eruptions and increase in calmer times, which would be useful for tracking with future drone flights.
“Being able to use drones to sample these gases helps us get a sense of the mechanisms that can trigger an eruption and do it in a safe way,” says Benjamin Jordan, a volcanologist at Brigham Young University-Hawaii who was not involved. . At work.
Photography: Robert Bogue
Drones, however, have their own challenges: in Poás, D’Arcy’s team lost three. (One flew out of range and stopped responding to signals, and the rotor of another became entangled with its gas sampling apparatus and landed. A third, sent to locate the second, fell randomly from the sky.) Still, the The equipment is relatively easy to replace, costing only a few thousand dollars a pop, cheap by research standards. “The cost of a human life is infinite,” says Jordan. “By using drones, you eliminate that risk.”
Researchers may never stop exploring the interior of volcanoes; It’s certainly dangerous, but the experience is also unlike any other. “He’s very humble,” says de Moor, who comes to Poás about once a month. “It’s almost a spiritual feeling because you don’t really feel like you belong in this place, in such a hostile environment.”
He imagines that one day, volcanic drone technology could resemble something out of a sci-fi movie: sophisticated, self-flying devices optimized to withstand the hellish conditions of Earth’s most violent eruptions. “And then,” says de Moor, “we’ll learn a lot.”