Cooperative Research on Volcanic SO2 Emissions from Volcanoes in Guatemala, Ecuador, and Chile

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This award will support Professor William Rose of Michigan Technological University in collaboration with Eddy Sanchez and Jorge Giron of the Instituto Nacional de Sismologia, Vulcanologia, Meteorologia e Hidrologia (INSIVUMEH) of Guatemala; with Minard Hall of the Escuela Politecnica Nacional of Ecuador; and with Carlos Ramirez of the Servicio Nacional de Geologia y Mineria in Chile. The purpose of the project is to measure the sulfur dioxide emissions of several volcanoes with a correlation spectrometer (COSPEC). All of the volcanoes to be visited are very active or increasingly active. Many pose a severe threat to local populations, properties, and economies. However, very little information is known about the current state of these volcanoes. Because the sulfur dioxide only significantly exsolves from magmas at shallow depths, it is a reliable indicator of shallow magmatic processes. Therefore, obtaining information about current sulfur dioxide emissions will help the local government agencies coordinate their eruption contingency plans and provide significant information to the researchers. While the overall objective is to conduct the sulfur dioxide measurements, there is a significant training component to this grant in that Professor Rose will be instructing the local scientists in proper use of the COSPEC. Such training will lead to continued monitoring after the visit is over and could help to lessen the damage from the eventual destructive eruptions of these volcanoes. In this context the award fulfills the objectives of the Science in Developing Countries Program.