Marika Dalton
My Ph.D. research involves using the UV digital camera for investigating small-scale explosive activity. The goal of monitoring active volcanoes is to predict the likelihood of the onset of activity or change in eruption style. To predict these developments, researchers need insight into the processes occurring in the volcanic conduit. The activity in the conduit (e.g. introduction of new magma into the system, sealing of the conduit, rate of material ascent, volatile exsolution) greatly affects the timing, type, magnitude, and duration of eruption. Dynamic processes in the conduit produce variations in volatile flux, which can be observed at a high temporal resolution with the UV camera. Analyzing this dataset in concert with other monitoring techniques provides invaluable information about subsurface volcanic activity.
My work with the camera began with calibration studies at a SO2-emitting power plant. In January 2007, I was able to join a group of researchers on a multi-institution field study of Santiaguito volcano, Guatemala. This campaign was an opportunity to collect data with the UV camera in unison with seismic, acoustic, and infrared sensors, as well as doppler radar. My research continues with efforts to increase the automation of the image processing technique and further calibration experiments at Resonance Ltd. laboratories during fall 2007.
