IDOAS: A new monitoring technique to study the 2D distribution of volcanic gas emissions

Imaging Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (IDOAS) is an optical remote-sensing method using scattered sunlight as light source. It combines a “pushbroom” imaging spectrometer with the DOAS technique and thus allows imaging two-dimensional trace gas distributions, e.g., in volcanic plumes. The highly sensitive and specific detection of many trace gases simultaneously (specific molecules, not just elements, e.g. SO2, BrO, NO2, O3, HCHO, etc.) is possible, and the temporal and spatial variation of these gases can be measured. The IDOAS system presented here enables the taking of two-dimensional images of trace gas distributions in a volcanic plume with a spatial resolution of 100 pixels horizontally × 64 pixels vertically, each with a field of view of 0.087° in horizontal and 0.208° in vertical directions. Therefore, IDOAS provides useful information about the chemical composition and chemical variability in a volcanic plume and allows studying plume dispersal and chemical transformations. The technique was applied to map the SO2 distribution in the plume of Mt. Etna volcano for the first time in October 2003.