Carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide emission rates from an alkaline intra-plate volcano: Mt. Erebus, Antarctica

This is the first report of CO and CO2 flux from Mt. Erebus, Antarctica, an alkaline intra-plate volcano with a convecting lava lake. The CO2 flux from the Mt. Erebus plume was measured by in-plume infrared analysis during December 1997, December 1999 and January 2001. The CO2 emission rates were consistently close to the average of 22.3 kg/s (1930 Mg/day) for the three measurements conducted over a 4-year period even though the third measurement (January 2001) was conducted at a time of elevated activity. As CO2 is considered a good indicator of eruptive activity a more frequent type of monitoring system may be necessary to detect changes related to activity at Mt. Erebus. Increased CO2 emissions lost via Strombolian eruptions in the lava lake were not accounted for in our airborne measurements. Carbon monoxide flux, determined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy in December 1995, yielded a rate of 1.74 kg/s (150 Mg/day) and a high CO:CO2 ratio of 0.12.