Volcano Eruption Detected by Drones

New drone technology enables local communities to better forecast future eruptions.

17:20 02 November 2020

Researchers from The University of Manchester have joined an international team in exploring how drone technology can be used to gather data from volcanoes to better forecast future eruptions. 

 

The study, which was published in Sciences Advances, shows how scientists are improving their understanding of how volcanoes contribute to the global carbon cycle and how it is possible to combine measurements from the air, earth and space to learn more about the most inaccessible, highly active volcanoes on the planet. 

 

Dr Brendan McCormick Kilbride, Presidential Fellow at The University of Manchester said: “The really exciting advance here is that we can use drones to achieve measurements of gas emissions that are otherwise impossible. In settings like Papua New Guinea, where highly active volcanoes can be extremely isolated, adopting this technology has immense potential for volcano monitoring at relatively low cost.”

 

Dr Brendan McCormick Kilbride, Presidential Fellow added: "The really exciting advance here is that we can use drones to achieve measurements of gas emissions that are otherwise impossible. In settings like Papua New Guinea, where highly active volcanoes can be extremely isolated, adopting this technology has immense potential for volcano monitoring at relatively low cost."