09-30-2016, 05:37 AM
quote:
Originally posted by terracore
I'm sure it was just coincidence that the lack of winds and the CO2 censors being only a few miles from one of the largest (if not the largest) continuous CO2 vents in the world contributed to the higher readings.
"Our studies here at Kilauea show that the eruption discharges between 8,000 and 30,000 metric tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere each day." I wonder how much Mauna Loa is venting.
http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanowatch/arch...02_15.html
Mauna Loa monitors are located above the trade wind inversion to reduce the effects of local climate variability and local sources of CO2 below the inversion elevation. Kilauea's CO2 discharges can't get through the trade wind inversion elevation except under very rare conditions (and the guys that track the CO2 data are well aware of those effects).
They are also aware of the potential effects of outgassing from the summit of Mauna Loa - after Mauna Loa's 1975 eruption, word got back to the HVO staff that the Mauna Loa observatory's instruments had recorded a spike in CO2 levels prior to the onset of the eruption. It only occurred during the night time, when drainage winds were carrying the summit air down the mountain to the sensors (but it wasn't visible during daytime upslope air transport).
Bottom line: the guys doing the measurements are competent and the accuracy of the atmospheric CO2 levels/trends are about as accurate as we're going to get, or they need to be.