Monitoring system for phreatic eruptions and thermal behavior on Poás volcano hyperacidic lake, with permanent IR and HD cameras

Abstract:

Monitoring volcanoes have been on the past decades an expanding matter, one of the rising techniques that involve new technology is the digital video surveillance, and the automated software that come within, now is possible if you have the budget and some facilities on site, to set up a real-time network of high definition video cameras, some of them even with special features like infrared, thermal, ultraviolet, etc. That can make easier or harder the analysis of volcanic phenomena like lava eruptions, phreatic eruption, plume speed, lava flows, close/open vents, just to mention some of the many application of these cameras.

We present the methodology of the installation at Poás volcano of a real-time system for processing and storing HD and thermal images and video, also the process to install and acquired the HD and IR cameras, towers, solar panels and radios to transmit the data on a volcano located at the tropics, plus what volcanic areas are our goal and why. On the other hand we show the hardware and software we consider necessary to carry on our project.

Finally we show some early data examples of upwelling areas on the Poás volcano hyperacidic lake and the relation with lake phreatic eruptions, also some data of increasing temperature on an old dome wall and the suddenly wall explosions, and the use of IR video for measuring plume speed and contour for use on combination with DOAS or FTIR measurements.