Volcanic gases have significant effects on the atmosphere and climate and are important indicators of sub-surface magmatic processes. They are, however, difficult to collect and analyze. In-situ sampling can provide detailed information on trace constituents but is often impractical or hazardous. More recently, experiments with rugged FT-IR spectrometers have shown to be extremely well-suited to volcano monitoring, the main advantage being that the FT-IR records all wavelengths simultaneously, and thus allows quantitative determination of the instantaneous composition of volcanic gases.

Experiments were also been carried out using the spectrometer from a helicopter, pointing into the summit craters of Etna, and back on the ground to measure fumaroles on the summit of Vulcano. The high sensitivity and robustness of the Bruker OPAG-22 spectrometer are ideal for working in this difficult environment, and allow high quality measurements to be collected using a variety of measurement strategies on Etna, Vulcano and Stromboli volcanoes.

Etna is the first volcano in the world to be routinely monitored using FT-IR. The Bruker OPAG-22 instrument has been demonstrated as a robust, reliable and efficient tool for a variety of remote sensing applications on Italian volcanoes, including measurements of lava fountain gas composition and helicopter-borne measurements of the summit craters of Etna.

Content taken from Dr. Michael Burton's abstract, "Remote sensing of volcanic gases with the Bruker OPAG-22" and special thanks to the Sistema Poseidon Geochemistry Group. For more information and the complete abstract, please visit