Activity report of Commission on the Chemistry of Volcanic Gases -- January 17, 2001
1) Workshop
The 7th field workshop on volcanic gases was held from 17 to 25 October, 2000 in Kyushu, Japan. 46 people participated, 24 papers were presented and 33 people participated in the intercomparison program of gas sampling techniques.2) Business meeting
Following items were discussed and decided at the business meeting during the workshop.a) Scope of the commission
The aim of the commission has traditionally been biased on "bottle sampling" of volcanic gases. However, volcanic gas study has quite broad aspects including remote sensing techniques (COSPEC, FT-TR etc), soil gas measurements, aerosol studies, volatile component analyses of volcanic rocks (in particular of melt inclusions), physical mechanism of magma degassing and so on. Involvement of these aspects into the commission scope was discussed and decided.
Broadening of the commission aspects will be advertised through the commission description at the IAVCEI HP as well as CCVG Web site (see below).
Collaboration with remote sensing and soil gas people will be proposed at the next field workshop (see below).b) Next workshop
Next field workshop plan at Nicaragua and Costa Rica in 2003 was proposed by J. Stix, P. Dellmelle, W. Strauch (Nicaragua) and E. Malavassi (Costa Rica).
Integrated studies of volcanic volatile emission through the traditional "bottle sampling", soil gas measurement, filter sampling, and remote sensing measurements will be the major aim of this workshop.c) Web site
Web site of the commission will be created in order for close communication among members and for public announcement. Web master will be elected as one of the officers to create and maintain the web site.d) Election of the officers
Following people were elected for the commission officer for 2001-2003 (until the next workshop):
- Leader: Jun-ichi HIRABAYASHI (jhirabay@js5.ksvo.titech.ac.jp)
- Secretary: John STIX (stix@eps.mcgill.ca)
- Newsletter Editor: Hiroshi SHINOHARA (shino@gsj.go.jp)
- Web master Tobias FISCHER (fischer@unm.edu)
3) Newsletter
Newsletter No. 13 (March 1998), 14 (July 1999) and 15 (May 2000) were distributed after the last workshop in 1997. 90 people are on the distribution list.4) Others
a) JVGR Magma Degassing volume will be published soon with eighteen manuscripts selected from the magma degassing session at IAVCEI Puerto Vallarta meeting in 1997.
b) IAVCEI congress in Cape Town, 1998
No session named volcanic gases nor volatiles was organized. There were just a few papers discussed volcanic gases, and some others of gas emission related studies such as soil gas and plume studies.c) General Assembly in Bali, 2000
15 oral presentations and 34 poster presentations were programmed (but some of these were cancelled as usual). Total number was 49. Many papers discuss not only volcanic gases but also soil gases, remote sensing of plumes and degassing mechanisms.