How Drones Can Help Predict Volcanic Activity

Researchers are now sending drones into volcanoes in the hopes of saving lives.

Transcript

00:00We're finding new and inventive uses for drones all the time, but now researchers are sending them into volcanoes in the hopes of saving lives.

00:10Volcano eruptions can be predicted in a few ways.

00:13Earthquake and tremor activity and bulging volcano slopes can be pretty good indicators of such events.

00:18And satellites can detect and measure increases in sulfur dioxide being expelled.

00:22Another way to tell that something is happening down below.

00:25But these ways alone aren't enough, as all of these symptoms can occur regularly even on long dormant volcanoes.

00:30But the difference in emissions, specifically CO2 and SO2, can reveal magma approaching the surface, a precursor to an eruption.

00:38Which is why researchers sent drones in to capture and measure those gases from Manam, one of the most actively gassing volcanoes in the world.

00:45They not only found that the volcano was emitting far more gas than previously thought, around 8,800 tons of CO2 and SO2 per day.

00:53But the gas mixture was from the upper mantle and not derived from the Earth's crust.

00:57Meaning an eruption could be possible.

00:59And they were right.

01:00Manam erupted just one month after researchers left the site.

01:03Manam erupted just one month after probl teilweise was left the site.

01:05Man 웅 is the most π

01:20They had no massive xp

01:23They