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Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy data acquired during the 2018 rift eruption of Kīlauea Volcano

Metadata Updated: January 20, 2026

A fissure eruption occurred in Kīlauea Volcano’s Lower East Rift Zone (LERZ) from April to September 2018. During this event, volcanic gases were emitted from three active areas on the volcano. The most intense degassing occurred at the active fissures in the LERZ, thus causing parts of Hawaiʻi Island’s Puna district to be exposed to life-threatening sulfur dioxide (SO2) concentrations. At the same time, gas emissions from the volcano’s summit and East Rift Zone (ERZ) slowly declined from their decade-long averages as magma drained from the volcano’s shallow plumbing system. Throughout the eruption, the USGS used a Mobile Differential Optical Absorption Spectrometer (Mobile DOAS) to record ultraviolet (280 – 420 nm) spectra of downwelling scattered solar radiation passing through volcanic gases overhead. Mounted on a vehicle or carried by a hiking geologist, the instrument was passed beneath volcanic plumes emitted from each of the three active areas throughout the 2018 eruption. The recorded spectra were later used to retrieve SO2 vertical column densities in transects perpendicular to the plume propagation direction. SO2 emission rates could then be calculated from these, thereby tracking the volcano’s gas output as the eruption progressed. The resulting gas emission rates are published in the Bulletin of Volcanology (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-020-01390-8). All recorded spectra were stamped with GPS time and location. Each spectrum is saved in a separate ASCII file which includes 2048 radiances recorded across the spectral window of the spectrometer along with relevant metadata associated with each acquisition

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date January 11, 2026
Metadata Updated Date January 20, 2026

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date January 11, 2026
Metadata Updated Date January 20, 2026
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/USGS_5dcc8303e4b0695797607f87
Data Last Modified 2020-08-31T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Datagov Dedupe Retained 20260120143730
Harvest Object Id 857ba3e3-cdb7-42b5-9aa1-5a0b1de6578c
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -155.5, 19.2, -155.5, 19.5, -154.8, 19.5, -154.8, 19.2, -155.5, 19.2}
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 9623927dff147a3ce7ded5d762fd2d21a0b151c9f71ae34825c659ad2abe5d99
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -155.5, 19.2, -155.5, 19.5, -154.8, 19.5, -154.8, 19.2, -155.5, 19.2}

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