On the Aeolian island of Vulcano, off the coast of Sicily, a small drone named "Tina" hums into the air and flies straight into the heart of a volcanic vent where temperatures reach 140°C. The drone is not there to capture dramatic footage — it is on a mission to save lives by predicting eruptions before they happen.
On this remote, lunar-like landscape, hot volcanic gases and steam smelling of sulfur rise eerily from the earth. The Grand Crater of Vulcano last erupted in the late 19th century, but the volcano continues to release intense fumes that attract curious visitors who walk right up to the rim. Now, German researchers are testing whether drones like Tina can make volcano monitoring safer and more accurate than ever before.
Marius Schaab from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) stands next to a gas sensor mounted on a tripod. When Tina flies to a precise position, a laser beam passes through the volcanic gases and bounces back off the drone. From this reflection, an algorithm calculates a detailed map of gas concentration in just 10 to 15 minutes.
"Our drone flies behind the plume and also our ground unit is not in the plume," Schaab told AFP. This matters because volcanic gases are highly corrosive — any sensor placed directly inside the plume would need constant recalibration. The drone's ability to maneuver around the edges means researchers can gather data without risking their health.
Using a laser allows the sensor to avoid the gas plume entirely. The drone can switch angles and follow a predefined path at distances up to 60 meters (nearly 200 feet) from the sensor, giving scientists a three-dimensional picture of what is happening inside the volcano.
The team from TUM tested their system at altitudes up to 3,000 meters (about 9,800 feet) — the first time they have tried it on a real volcano. The system could work on much taller mountains like Mount Etna, Sicily's active volcano that recently began erupting again.
"One reason for measuring gases and particles is to better understand the impact of volcanic eruptions on the atmosphere," said Tjarda Roberts, a researcher at France's National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) who is collaborating with the German teams. "Another reason is to anticipate volcanic eruptions, because the gas composition can change before an eruption occurs."
The greater the pressure from rising lava deep inside the Earth, the more gas pushes toward the surface. By tracking these gas levels, scientists hope to give communities living near active volcanoes precious warning time. With Tina buzzing safely in the sky, researchers no longer need to suit up in protective masks and risk their lives to gather the same data.
Drones have been used in volcano monitoring for about 15 years, but the technology is getting smarter and more precise. For Vulcano's scientists, the dream is to eventually predict eruptions not just on this quiet island, but on dangerous peaks around the world where human monitoring is simply too risky.