Monitoring volcanic SO2 emissions using GOME-2/Metop-A & -B

Kurzfassung

SO2 emissions are a good indicator for volcanic activity, since besides weak anthropogenic emissions there are no other known sources for atmospheric SO2. Furthermore it can be a proxy for the much harder to detect volcanic ash, which can be hazardous not only for the local population but also for aviation. Under the leadership of IMF, DLR-EOC provides operational trace gas measurements, including total SO2 columns, in near-real-time (i.e., within 2 hours of recording) in the framework of EUMETSAT’s Satellite Application Facility on Ozone and Atmospheric Chemistry Monitoring (O3M-SAF). We will present here latest results of recent volcanic eruptions detected by GOME-2 aboard MetOp-A & -B as well as latest updates and developments of our operational GOME-2 SO2 retrieval.