Volcanic Eruptions To Be Radio-Controlled

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Death by volcanic eruption can be controlled in the future, thanks to the team of geophysicists is developing a large radio-controlled toy helicopter that could help predict when a will blow its top.

The development is based on the fact that carbon dioxide is released from the magma deep with in the and is on the verge of eruption.

Along with carbondioxide, Sulfur dioxide is also released, the ratio of the two gases from a could hint for erruptions. The main challenge and danger is in measuring the carbon dioxide from the troubles areas, as the gas's level is higher compared to Sulfur dioxide.

"So, the component that the adds to [the background carbon dioxide levels] is, relatively speaking, next to nothing," said Andrew McGonigle, a geophysicist from the University of Sheffield, UK.

The task to measure the CO2 levels near a was previously done by placing sensors at highly dangerous areas, a feat performing which six vulcanologists died when Galeras, a in Colombia, erupted while they were trying to take gas measurements in 1993.

According to a report in Nature News, to avoid similar tragedies, McGonigle is developing an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to fly under the plume of an active, but not yet erupting , to take those telltale carbon dioxide measurements.

McGonigle demonstrated this by flying a small radio-controlled helicopter to take CO2 measurements at Vulcano, Italy. For this remarkable achievement of his the Swiss watch company Rolex has named McGonigle one of five laureates of their annual enterprise awards, with a cash prize of 100,000 dollars. He intends to utilize the cash prize for further investigations.

"That helicopter can only fly about 400 meters away from the operator," McGonigle said of his first efforts. "What's required is a really up-to-date UAV in order to make this technology useful," he added.

"Measuring two different things is always better than just one," said Stanley Williams, a vulcanologist at Arizona State University. According to him McGonigle's efforts will be successful, because having carbon dioxide as well as sulfur dioxide data will make predictions easier.

UAV are very important for scientific applications, as they can reach places too remote for human reach, like the Antarctica where they have been used for photographes. "Using a UAV will allow a greater range of es to be monitored." says Tamsin Mather, an earth scientist from the University of Oxford, UK,.