VOLDORAD, namely Volcano Doppler Radar, is a service of the french CNRS-INSU National Service for Observation in Volcanology (SNOV) hosted by the Observatoire de Physique du Globe de Clermont-Ferrand (OPGC), France. It includes a set of transportable radars designed at OPGC, aimed at monitoring and studying explosive volcanic eruptions (volcanic explosion, lava jet, lava fountain, eruption column, tephra plumes) by pointing directly near the source. The core activity of the VOLDORAD service is to provide the scientific community with observational and processed radar data through data bases from continuous monitoring (Etna, Popocatépetl volcanoes) or punctual measurement campaigns (Etna, Stromboli, Yasur, Arenal, Popocatépetl).

At Etna, the OPGC radar VOLDORAD 2B is fully integrated into the INGV Osservatorio Etneo monitoring network and operated in collaboration with the INGV sezione di Catania. The radar has been recording raw data (level 0) at 4 Hz from several probed volumes right above the summit craters since 2009 from the Montagnola station on Etna’s south flank. The VOLDORAD 2B open data base comprises the radar products (level 1 data) computed from the raw data by the VOLDORAD service hosted at OPGC. The radar products includes Doppler spectra, velocigrams and time series of backscattered power, radial velocities and other combined radar indices.

The main interests of such Doppler radars is their capacity to be transported in the field, to probe inside volcanic plumes or jets, and to track in real-time the ejecta velocity and reflectivity near the source, thus providing some quantification of the temporal evolution of eruption intensity, through all weather.

Direct radar retrievals are particle along-beam velocity components and backscattered power, in successive probed volumes inside the beam.

Physical parameters that can be derived from the radar retrievals (Donnadieu, 2012; Donnadieu et al., 2005, 2016) are particle ejection velocities, mass flux of tephra, gas initial velocity and gas mass flux estimates, eruption duration, total solid mass, 3-D transport speed of tephra, amount of ballistics and wind-advected tephra, all weather early warning of tephra emission.

How to cite :

DONNADIEU, F., FREVILLE, P., RIVET, S., HERVIER, C., & CACAULT, P. (2015). Volcano Doppler Radar Data Base of Etna (VOLDORAD 2B). Université Clermont Auvergne – CNRS. https://doi.org/10.18145/VOLDORAD.ETNA.2009