Word: volcano
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Chouet is not the only researcher who's using the orbital high ground to study the volcanic underground. In Alaska, USGS researchers have placed satellite receivers at different points on the sloping side of the Augustine volcano and tuned them also to the gps. Like any volcanic mountain, Augustine is swelling slightly as it fills with magma. The degree of this deformation--as calculated by the gps--can help determine the imminence of the eruption. Elsewhere, scientists are leasing time on European or Japanese satellites to take photos of volcanic peaks as they undergo a seismic event like an earthquake...
...magma rises in a volcano, light molecules like carbon dioxide bleed off more than heavier gases like sulfur dioxide. The higher the CO[2] levels, the likelier an eruption. If magma gets stuck in the gullet of the mountain, SO[2] predominates. The more SO[2], the more stagnant the magma and the less probable an eruption. The problem is that taking accurate measurements may require climbing almost directly into a volcano--a decidedly dangerous proposition...
...reduce the risk, Williams is testing a remote gas sensor that can read a volcano's emissions from a plane flying nearby or even a car driving past at a distance of as much as 20 miles. The instrument works by detecting changes in the infrared energy caused by different gases in the volcanic plume. Says Williams: "Volcanoes give gaseous signals of approaching eruptions. This gives us the lead time we need to get people educated and not terrorized...
This dilemma is typical of volcanology as a whole: more and more, researchers are realizing that the degree of protection their science can offer will be directly linked to the amount of money it receives. The USGS volcano program has been getting by on what in Big Science is a starvation ration: $17 million annually. Next year even that will be slashed by $2 million. The USGS's volcano swat team carries out its volcanic smoke jumping on a budget of just $750,000 a year...
Nobody pretends this is enough to sustain global volcano work, and while a few countries have monitoring programs of their own, many of the Third World nations that are in the greatest danger are the least economically equipped to address it. The U.S. thus finds itself in a familiar leadership role at a time when its own federal budget is under growing pressure. At the USGS researchers can only hope that the funds for their work don't disappear before they have a chance to warn the world of the next volcanic disaster...