Active volcano’s carbon emissions sampled by drones

Drones have revealed exactly how much carbon dioxide the volcano Manam in Papua New Guinea is emitting. The data should be useful for forecasting eruptions and tracking the carbon footprint of this geological phenomenon.

Manam is currently one of the most active volcanoes in the world. However, studying it is extremely difficult. ‘We know that there are many volcanoes that are very active, but they’re completely unmonitored,’ says Emma Liu, lead author of this project. ‘They just can’t be accessed from the ground, either because they’re too hazardous to approach, or they’re simply too high altitude and we cannot get the equipment in place.’