Volcanica (Feb 2022)
Effectiveness of low-cost air quality monitors for identifying volcanic SO₂ and PM downwind from Masaya volcano, Nicaragua
- Rachel Whitty,
- Melissa Pfeffer,
- Evgenia Ilyinskaya,
- Tjarda Roberts,
- Anja Schmidt,
- Sara Barsotti,
- Wilfried Strauch,
- Leigh Crilley,
- Francis Pope,
- Harold Bellanger,
- Elvis Mendoza,
- Tamsin Mather,
- Emma Liu,
- Nial Peters,
- Isabelle Taylor,
- Hilary Francis,
- Xochilt Hernández Leiva,
- Dave Lynch,
- Sébastien Nobert,
- Peter Baxter
Affiliations
- Rachel Whitty
- ORCiD
- Institute of Geophysics and Tectonics, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
- Melissa Pfeffer
- ORCiD
- Icelandic Meteorological Office, Reykjavik, Iceland
- Evgenia Ilyinskaya
- ORCiD
- Institute of Geophysics and Tectonics, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
- Tjarda Roberts
- ORCiD
- CNRS UMR7328, Laboratoire de Physique et de Chimie de l’Environnement et de l’Espace, Université d’Orléans, Orléans, France
- Anja Schmidt
- ORCiD
- Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom AND Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
- Sara Barsotti
- ORCiD
- Icelandic Meteorological Office, Reykjavik, Iceland
- Wilfried Strauch
- ORCiD
- Instituto Nicaragüense de Estudios Territoriales (INETER), Managua, Nicaragua
- Leigh Crilley
- ORCiD
- Department of Chemistry, York University, Toronto, Canada
- Francis Pope
- ORCiD
- School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
- Harold Bellanger
- ORCiD
- Department of Geography, University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Elvis Mendoza
- Instituto Nicaragüense de Estudios Territoriales (INETER), Managua, Nicaragua
- Tamsin Mather
- ORCiD
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- Emma Liu
- ORCiD
- Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- Nial Peters
- ORCiD
- Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- Isabelle Taylor
- ORCiD
- COMET, Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- Hilary Francis
- ORCiD
- Department of Humanities, University of Northumbria, Newcastle, United Kingdom
- Xochilt Hernández Leiva
- Independent social research consultant, Managua, Nicaragua; formerly at Universidad Americana, Managua, Nicaragua, and Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
- Dave Lynch
- ORCiD
- Cultural Institute, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
- Sébastien Nobert
- ORCiD
- Department of Geography, University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada AND Sustainability Research Institute, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
- Peter Baxter
- ORCiD
- Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.30909/vol.05.01.3359
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 5,
no. 1
pp. 33 – 59
Abstract
Gas and particulate matter (PM) emissions from Masaya volcano, Nicaragua, cause substantial regional volcanic air pollution (VAP). We evaluate the suitability of low-cost SO2 and PM sensors for a continuous air-quality network. The network was deployed for six months in five populated areas (4-16 km from crater). The SO2 sensors failed and recorded erroneous values on multiple occasions, likely due to corrosion, requiring significant maintenance commitment. The PM sensors were found to be robust but data required correction for humidity. SO2 measurements could not be used as stand-alone tools to detect occurrence of VAP episodes (VAPE), but SO2/PM correlation reliably achieved this at near-field stations, as confirmed by meteorological forecasts and satellite imagery. Above-background PM concentrations reliably identified VAPE at both near-field and far-field stations. We suggest that a continuous network can be built from a combination of low-cost PM and SO2 sensors with a greater number of PM-only sensors.
Keywords
