Possibility Study of Volcanic SO_2 Emission Monitoring with Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS)

摘要

Conventional volcanic studies using seismometers, leveling, etc. are still important tools for monitoring volcano activity. Especially, sulfur dioxide (SO_2) has been proved to be a key factor in assessing volcanic activity and eruptions. Despite such importance, most volcanoes are not routinely observed by ground-based optical instruments to detect SO_2. On the other hand, satellite-based remote sensing may provide complementary information about volcanic activity by continuously monitoring using characteristic of strong absorption in the ultraviolet (UV) wavelength ranges. However, these satellite systems launched into polar orbit have a relatively long revisit period of 1 day. The Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS), a newly developed hyper-spectrometer, planned to be launched in March 2020, will provide atmospheric column measurements of sulfur dioxide (SO_2) and other gases such as NO_2, O_3, HCHO and aerosols at least 8 times per day. In this study, we tested possibility of monitoring volcanic SO_2 emission around the Korean peninsula (e.g. Mt. Aso, Mt. Sakurajima) using TROPOMI which has similar spatial resolution as GEMS. The result demonstrates that GEMS will provide reliable, nearly real-time, high temporal resolution detection of SO_2 in time series monitoring.