CO2 GASPEC: Design, Construction and Field-Testing of a GasCorrelation Spectrometer for Remote Measurement of CO2

该奖项为开发和实地测试一种新的遥感设备提供支持，该设备将能够量化火山喷发期间二氧化碳气体的排放速度。原型仪器是便携式红外吸收光谱仪，将设计成通过火山喷发烟柱测量视线内的二氧化碳含量，并从噪声(大气的正常背景二氧化碳含量)中分离出信号(烟柱中的二氧化碳)。该仪器包将设计用于飞机或地面位置。虽然二氧化碳是第二丰富的火山气体(仅次于水)，但人们对活火山喷发期间排放的总量或喷发演变过程中排放水平的变化知之甚少。由于各种原因，远程测量二氧化碳通量的能力具有重要意义。地球大气的起源最终与火山脱气有关，除非我们掌握自然来源及其随时间的变化，否则我们无法理解人为贡献的重要性。大型火山喷发经过充分量化，可以作为评估温室气体对气候影响的自然实验。此外，对二氧化碳排放的监测可用于预测火山喷发的过程及其局部、区域和全球后果。

This award provides support to develop and field-test a new remote-sensing device which will be capable of quantifying the rate of emission of carbon dioxide gas during volcanic eruptions. The prototype instrument, a portable infrared absorption spectrometer, will be designed to measure the carbon dioxide content in a line- of-sight through a volcanic eruption plume and to sort out the signal (the carbon dioxide in the plume) from noise (the normal background carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere). The instrument package will be designed for use either in airplanes or ground locations. Although carbon dioxide is the second most abundant volcanic gas (after water), little is known about either the total amounts emitted by active volcanos during eruption or the variation in emission level during the evolution of an eruption. The ability to remotely measure the flux of carbon dioxide is of importance for a variety of reasons. The origin of the Earth's atmosphere is ultimately related to volcanic degassing, and we cannot understand the significance of anthropogenic contributions unless we have a handle on the natural sources and their variation over time. Major volcanic eruptions, well quantified, could be used as natural experiments to evaluate the impact of greenhouse gases on climate. In addition, monitoring of carbon dioxide emissions can be used to predict the course of volcanic eruptions and their local, regional, and global consequences.