Total volatile flux from Mount Etna

Abstract

The Total Volatile (TV) flux from Mount Etna volcano has been characterised for the first time, by summing the simultaneously‐evaluated fluxes of the three main volcanogenic volatiles: H 2 O, CO 2 and SO 2 . SO 2 flux was determined by routine DOAS traverse measurements, while H 2 O and CO 2 were evaluated by scaling MultiGAS‐sensed H 2 O/SO 2 and CO 2 /SO 2 plume ratios to the UV‐sensed SO 2 flux. The time‐averaged TV flux from Etna is evaluated at ∼21,000 t·day −1 , with a large fraction accounted for by H 2 O (∼13,000 t·day −1 ). H 2 O dominates (≥70%) the volatile budget during syn‐eruptive degassing, while CO 2 and H 2 O contribute equally to the TV flux during passive degassing. The CO 2 flux was observed to be particularly high prior to the 2006 eruption, suggesting that this parameter is a good candidate for eruption prediction at basaltic volcanoes.