DECADAL MONITORING OF THE OUTGASSING ACTIVITY OF VULCANO ISLAND, AEOLIAN ARCHIPELAGO, ITALY. STRONG CHANGES IN THE DEGASSING ACTIVITY WAS INFERRED BY SOIL CO2 AND PLUME SO2 MEASUREMENTS.
The Active cone of La Fossa caldera is a close conduit volcano affected by solphataric activity, manifested in the hot fluids released from fumaroles and the associated thermal anomalies in groundwater and exposed ground.
The evaluation of the volcanic activity changes are inferred by the near real-time monitoring of soil CO2 fluxes diffused at the La Fossa Cone and the peripheral areas of Palizzi and Levante Bay and by the discontinuous monitoring of CO2 fluxes diffused by soil in areas around the CO2 continuous monitoring stations, La Fossa Cone, Palizzi and Levante Bay.
Moreover, the SO2 plume degassing was monitored utilizing the UV- scanning DOAS network installed on the island in the framework of European NOVAC project.
In particular, the four main changes in degassing activity recorded in 2009, 2021, 2022, and ongoing 2024, allowed us to evaluate in near real-time the level and duration of the exhaling crisis affecting the Island of Vulcano, by measuring the changes in mass and energy carried by the released fluids. The strong and sharp deep input of volatiles released, in the last decades, from the underlying magma batch strongly modified the chemical composition of the shallow plumbing system, leading the system to an increase in the level of CO2 and SO2 over time.