SO2 data and alert service

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Volcano overview per region

Either click on a region in the map
to submit or select a region from
the list-menu and click 'submit'

(The menu gives per region the
centre longitute and latitude)

Search for a volcano
in the set of this service

The SO2 data and alert service intents to monitor SO2 emissions worldwide, with a focus on SO2 emitted by volcanoes during eruptions. To provide detailed maps and to easier locate SO2 emissions, a set of regions has been defined as indicated in the map above and in the menu map on the left. The pull-down menu on the left lists the centre coordinates of the regions.
The regions as plotted on the above map and on the menu map are 30 by 30 degrees. To facilitate following the motion of SO2 from one region into another, the regions used in the analysis are 5 degrees wider on either side, so that the regions overlap one another: the maps show regions of 40 by 40 degrees.
Two special regions have been defined for the polar areas: the north (south) polar region covers all latitudes above (below) 60 degrees latitude, and thus overlap with the top (bottom) row of rectangular regions.
Since these default regions overlap, a given volcano can appear in more than one region. About half the volcanoes is located in two regions, some 45 in four regions.
Selecting a region from the menu on the left leads to a webpage which shows the volcanoes in that region that have erupted since the year 1800, as listed on the website of the Global Volcanism Programme (GVP). The page futher tells in which of the regions defined by the GVP the volconoes are found.

Some general remarks:

You can also search for a volcano within the selection made for the SO2 data and alert service.
Note that since the effective regions overlap, the same volcano may be found in multiple regions.

The Global Volcanism Programme (GVP) uses 19 regions to cover the different volcanoes. The GVP regions are not nicely rectangular, which makes using them in an automatic service a little more difficult than using the 30 by 30 degree regions defined above. On each of the subpages linked to above the name of the corresponding GVP region(s) is mentioned. See this page for an overview of the GVP regions.

Submarine volcanoes (with summits below sealevel) are not considered very important here, as it is very unlikely that their SO2 emissions can be detected.

The plots shown on these pages are made with the program IDL. As can be seen for example near the left and right axis of the world graph above, IDL has some problems correctly colouring the continent Antarctica. The boundaries of the countries drawn on the region maps are the political boundaries from 1993.

The numbering of the rectangular regions is as follows: the first digit gives the row (1,...,5) and the second the column (1,...,12) on the map, with the first column centred around 150 degrees West, and the middle row centred around the equator. The north (south) polar region has number 001 (002).

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page last modified: 08 July 2009
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