Temperatures, thermal structure, and behavior of eruptions at Kilauea and Erta Ale volcanoes using a consumer digital camcorder

Abstract

Remote thermal monitoring of active volcanoes has many important applications for terrestrial and planetary volcanic systems. In this study, we describe observations of active eruptions on Kilauea and Erta Ale volcanoes using a short-wavelength, high-resolution, consumer digital camcorder and other non-imaging thermal detectors. These systems revealed brightness temperatures close to the eruption temperatures and temperature distributions, morphologies and thermal structures of flow features, tube systems and lava fountains. Lava flows observed by the camcorder through a skylight on Kilauea had a peak in maximum brightness temperatures at 1230 °C and showed brightness temperature distributions consistent with most rapid flow at the center. Surface brightness temperatures of cooling lava flows on Kilauea were close to 850 °C. Centimeter-scale thermal features are evident around pahoehoe ropes and inflated flows and stalactites in lava tubes. Observations of the fountaining Erta Ale lava lake in February 2011 extend the baseline of observations of the eruptive episode begun in late 2010. We observed a fountain using the camcorder and found a peak in maximum brightness temperatures at 1164 °C, consistent with previous studies. Steep temperature gradients were observed across centimeter-scale distances between the highly exposed fountain and cracks and the much cooler lava lake surface and crater walls. The instrument and methods described here lead to robust pictures of the temperatures and temperature distributions at these volcanoes and reveal desired characteristics of planetary remote sensing platforms for the study of volcanically active bodies such as Io.