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Near real-time field measurements of δ13C in CO2 from volcanoes

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Abstract

This paper describes the operation and application of a portable cavity ring-down spectrometer (CRDS) designed to measure the isotopic composition of carbon dioxide. The instrument is capable of measuring δ13C for CO2 concentrations ranging from atmospheric (400 ppm) to 100%, at precisions and accuracies that are comparable to laboratory-based gas source mass spectrometers. This flexibility and portability are ideal for applications on active volcanoes, and it is now possible to obtain isotopic measurements on a near real-time basis. We show applications of the CRDS for soil gases on volcanoes and in calderas, for characterizing the isotopic composition of a volcanic plume, and for measuring the temporal variability of δ13C in the atmosphere. Future directions hold the potential to use volcanic gas isotopes for monitoring purposes, and to combine different isotopic systems to reveal the source or sources of gas.

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Acknowledgements

We are most grateful to the staff at Picarro Inc. for their continued assistance and interest in our applications, most notably Aaron Van Pelt, Mike Ahern, Danthu Vu, and Linda Huynh. Aaron has been a steadfast and enthusiastic supporter of using this technology for applications on active volcanoes. Maarten de Moor has provided crucial scientific and logistical advice at Turrialba. Boswell Wing of McGill University has helped us considerably in a number of ways, extending his extensive isotopic knowledge and perceptive insight to help us resolve a variety of issues. Barbara Sherwood Lollar, Georges Lacrampe-Couloume, and Katrina Chu of the University of Toronto have provided fundamentally important scientific and technical input into cross-calibration of our Picarro CRDS with their gas source mass spectrometers. We thank one anonymous reviewer, Taryn Lopez, and the editor Toby Fischer for helpful comments and suggestions that improved the paper. We acknowledge ongoing support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada for this research through Discovery, Accelerator, and Create grants to JS.

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Author notes

  1. Gregor Lucic

    Present address: Picarro Inc., 3105 Patrick Henry Drive, Santa Clara, CA, 95054, USA

  2. Kalina Malowany

    Present address: Core6 Environmental, 777 Hornby Street, Suite 1410, Vancouver, BC, V6Z 1S4, Canada

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, McGill University, 3450 University Street, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 0E8, Canada

    John Stix, Gregor Lucic & Kalina Malowany

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  1. John Stix
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  2. Gregor Lucic
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Correspondence to John Stix.

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Editorial responsibility: T.P. Fischer

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Stix, J., Lucic, G. & Malowany, K. Near real-time field measurements of δ13C in CO2 from volcanoes. Bull Volcanol 79, 62 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-017-1144-6

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