@inproceedings{PieriDiazBlandetal.2014, author = {Pieri, D. C. and Diaz, J. A. and Bland, G. and Fladeland, M. M. and Abtahi, A. and Alan, A. Jr. and Alegria, O. and Azofeifa, S. and Berthold, R. and Corrales, E. and Fuerstenau, S. and Gerardi, J. and Herlth, D. and Hickman, G. and Hunter, G. and Linick, J. and Mardigal, Y. and Makel, D. and Miles, T. and Realmuto, V. J. and Storms, B. and Vogel, A. and Kolyer, R. and Weber, Konradin}, title = {Systematic observations of Volc{\´a}n Turrialba, Costa Rica, with small unmanned aircraft and aerostats (UAVs): the Costa Rican Airborne Research and Technology Applications (CARTA) missions [Abstract]}, series = {American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2014}, booktitle = {American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2014}, year = {2014}, abstract = {For several years, the University of Costa Rica, NASA Centers (e.g., JPL, ARC, GSFC/WFF, GRC) \& NASA contractors-partners have made regular in situ measurements of aerosols \& gases at Turrialba Volcano in Costa Rica, with aerostats (e.g., tethered balloons \& kites), \& free-flying fixed wing UAVs (e.g., Dragon Eye, Vector Wing 100, DELTA 150), at altitudes up to 12.5Kft ASL within 5km of the summit. Onboard instruments included gas detectors (e.g., SO2, CO2), visible \& thermal IR cameras, air samplers, temperature pressure \& humidity sensors, particle counters, \& a nephelometer. Deployments are timed to support bimonthly overflights of the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) onboard the NASA Terra satellite (26 deployments to date). In situ observations of dilute plume SO2 concentrations (~1-20ppmv), plume dimensions, and associated temperature, pressure, \& humidity profiles, validate detailed radiative transfer-based SO2 retrievals, as well as archive-wide ASTER band-ratio SO2 algorithms. Our recent UAV-based CO2 observations confirm high concentrations (e.g., ~3000ppmv max at summit jet), with 1000-1500ppmv flank values, and essentially global background CO2 levels (400ppmv) over distal surroundings. Transient Turrialba He detections (up to 20ppmv) were obtained with a small (~10kg) airborne mass spectrometer on a light aircraft—a UAV version (~3kg) will deploy there soon on the UCR DELTA 500. Thus, these platforms, though small (most payloads <500gm), can perform valuable systematic measurements of potential eruption hazards, as well as of volcano processes. Because they are economical, flexible, and effective, such platforms promise unprecedented capabilities for researchers and responders throughout Central and South America, undertaking volcanic data acquisitions uniquely suited to such small aircraft in close proximity to known hazards, or that were previously only available using full-sized manned aircraft. This work was carried out, in part, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology under NASA contract. We are grateful to the Universidad de Costa Rica, the NASA Airborne Science and Earth Surface \& Interior Programs, the Direcci{\´o}n General de Aeron{\´a}utica Civil de Costa Rica, and FH D{\"u}sseldorf for their support.}, subject = {Vulkanismus}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{VogelWeberFischeretal.2012, author = {Vogel, Andreas and Weber, Konradin and Fischer, Christian and Prata, A. J. and Durant, A. J.}, title = {Aircraft in situ and remote sensing measurements of emissions from Etna volcano, Sicily}, series = {Geophysical Research Abstracts: EGU General Assembly 2012}, booktitle = {Geophysical Research Abstracts: EGU General Assembly 2012}, publisher = {Copernicus}, address = {G{\"o}ttingen}, year = {2012}, abstract = {Volcanoes emit particles (silicates and sulphate aerosol) and gases (e.g., water and sulphur dioxide) which influence the radiative balance of the atmosphere. The rate at which sulphur dioxide oxidises to sulphate aerosol is poorly constrained and measurements of downwind abundance are required to quantify the rate at which this process occurs. During July and November 2011, a series of measurements were performed in emissions from Etna Volcano, Sicily, using the University of Applied Sciences (Dusseldorf) research aircraft. Both in situ and remote sensing instrumentation was simultaneously deployed to quantify the down-wind characteristics of gases and particles in the plume emitted by the volcano. In situ particle characteristics were measured using a Grimm 1.109 optical particle counter (microparticles 0.25-32 microns) and Grimm 1320 diffusion electrometer (nanoparticles 25-300 nanometers). Column abundance of sulphur dioxide was measured using a vertically-pointing differential optical absorption spectrometer (DOAS). These measurements were compared to horizontal pathlength-integrated measurements of sulphur dioxide from the Airborne Volcanic Imaging Object Detector (AVOID). Down-wind plume dispersion was discriminated through a series of aircraft transects below and through the volcanic plume. The emissions contained large amounts of nanoparticles relative to microparticles, which reflects gas-phase nucleation of sulphate aerosol. The AVOID system discriminated horizontal layering of volcanic aerosol at altitudes of up to 12,000 ft from a detection range of >50 km. Plume boundaries were discriminated using a combination of the in situ and DOAS measurements in order to compare to the pathlength-integrated measurements from AVOID.}, subject = {Forschungsflugzeug}, language = {en} }