Continuous monitoring

The CM-HWR11 continuous monitoring unit is the evolution of the first prototype created in the context of the 1996 EC Santorini Volcano Monitoring project. The first series of this instrumentation was used as of 1998 by the USGS in the Tree Kill Area at Mammoth Mountain (CA, USA), by the Osservatorio Vesuviano at the Phlegraean Fields and on the Vesuvius and later by the GNV on Stromboli. Some of those instruments are still in use today. Since then, these instruments have monitored the activities of volcanoes and geothermal areas all over the world, demonstrating great reliability. The system is powered by solar panels and can be controlled remotely by a variety of telemetry systems. In addition to CO₂, H₂S and methane the system measures all meteorological parameters as well as soil moisture and temperature.

The CO2-Spot unit, developed by IGG.CNR with a Deep Carbon Observatory economical contribution, is a light, low-cost system for measuring changes in the CO₂ flux over time in a given area. It is designed both for carrying out short-term monitoring by itself and for complementing the CM-HWR11 unit in order to extend the flux measurements to various points of an area, thus creating a wireless and tubeless multi-chamber system with simultaneous sampling at all measuring points. The system uses the same accumulation chamber type of the CM-HWR11 system and can be provided with two different types of housings, a light one for short-term monitoring and a housing made of AISI 316 grade steel for long-term monitoring. In addition to the CO₂ flux, the system measures the soil’s water content and temperature.

Multi-chamber systems are used to monitor the development of gas emissions from the soil over time, checking the emissions at various points with up to 16 automated accumulation chambers. These systems are used mainly for monitoring strategic natural gas storage sites and CO₂ geological storage (CCS) sites. The multi-chamber system developed for the IPNOA project (www.ipnoa.eu) can use cavity ring-down or off-axis ICOS analysers for measuring emissions of nitrous oxide and other GHG or for evaluating delta δ¹³C on CO₂ and CH₄.