Source: BBC News 18.11.08
A Scots scientist who invented a new way to help predict when volcanoes will erupt has received a major award.
Dr Andrew McGonigle, from Edinburgh, uses a remote controlled helicopter which he flies over active volcanoes to gather his data.
He has been named a Laureate in the 2008 Rolex Awards for Enterprise, a prize which brings with it the funding to develop his idea further.
He is senior research fellow at the University of Sheffield.
Funds from the award will finance Aerovolc II, an unmanned, small-scale helicopter, designed specifically to measure the volcanic gases in Etna and Stromboli in Italy.
The aircraft is cheaper than previous efforts to predict eruptions and eliminates the dangerous task of physically measuring volcanic gases.
Dr McGonigle told BBC Scotland: "What we are trying to do is develop a completely remote way of measuring carbon dioxide emissions from volcanoes.
"Carbon dioxide as a gas is very important with volcanology because it is released from rising batches of magma relatively early in the ascent process."
He said it would be expected that the emissions of carbon dioxide emission might increase in the weeks and months before an eruption.
"It is a very desirable measurement for us to make, but up until now the only way to make that measurement has involved someone climbing up to a volcano and using an instrument from the crater's edge," he added.
"What we are trying to do is enable the same measurement of carbon dioxide emissions, but enabling the scientists to remain completely remote at a safe distance from the volcano."