Wolf spews sulphur
Wolf volcano on the island of Isabela, which is one of the Galápagos islands, erupted last Friday (January 7, 2022). The data from Europe’s Copernicus satellite Sentinel-5P that were processed by EOC show significant sulphur dioxide emissions (up to 9,000 tons) at altitudes up to 4 km coming from the eruption. The SO2 cloud is currently spreading westward over the Pacific Ocean. The volcano is the highest summit on Isabela island and the highest mountain of the Galápagos islands. Among other animals, very rare, rose-coloured iguanas, of which only a few specimens exist, live on the slopes of this volcano.
EOC processes the data in near real time, which means that the SO2 measurement results are available within three hours of the satellite’s spectral measurement. Determining the amount of SO2 emitted is relatively easy, but determining the height of the SO2 cloud requires the use of neuronal networks. The relevant procedure that is being developed at DLR’s Remote Sensing Technology Institute is part of the INPULS project and used Sentinel-5P data.
