[MUSIC PLAYING]
NARRATOR: At the top of Villarrica volcano,
Dr. Emma Liu and her team are about to fly the latest
drone technology into one of the most
extreme places on Earth, a crater with an open lava lake.
The drone is sniffing the air for clues that could
help forecast an eruption.
Emma hopes to track how much sulfur dioxide and carbon
dioxide is being released.
Battery, 22.35.
NARRATOR: Fresh magma contains more CO2.
So a high amount of it would indicate the arrival
of new magma from deep below into the chamber, which could
signal an imminent eruption.
They must get low into the crater
before the gases disperse in the atmosphere.
But the heat and turbulence from the boiling lava
could cause the drone to crash at any moment.
So are you happy with the position?
Happy with position.
Right now, it's collecting the passive gas that
is coming off the lava lake.
And then when we see the bubble, we see whether the gas
composition changes.
Now, we just need a bubble burst.
OK, here's a nice plume coming through.
You can tell instantly that the change
in the sound of the motors, you can tell
when it hits the turbulence.
And instantly, I see a spike in sulfur dioxide.
Whoa!
There's a good number.
That's a very good number.
NARRATOR: They've done it.
They have managed to sample the volcanic gases
coming off the lava lake.
OK.
It's landing.
[BEEP] Disarmed. - Disarmed.
- OK. - Yes!
The vehicle is safe.
We can move around a bit more now.
Yes!
Yes.
Success, at last.
We did it.
Oh, my god.
We've been waiting a year for this.
So this is the first time that a high resolution
multi-gas instrument-- so it's measuring
multiple different gases--
has successfully flown on a drone,
measured, and returned home safe.
NARRATOR: Emma and her team now have a powerful new tool
to help unravel the mysteries of volcanoes
and forecast the next eruption.
Today, Villarrica is stable, but it has erupted before.
And it will erupt again.
The action starts deep underground
where magma, rich in gases, rises at a fearsome speed.
Inside the magma, the gas bubbles begin to expand,
and the pressure in the magma chamber
increases until finally the magma bursts through the crater
floor in a huge explosion.
Powered by the expansion of gases,
molten rock would blast out of the volcano.
Lava would stream down the slopes,
a force of nature nothing can stop.
On our experimental v-day, Villarrica won't be alone.
There are around 900 arc volcanoes
just like it, all around the edge of the Pacific,
which, like Villarrica, are created by the Pacific Ocean
plate sinking beneath the surrounding
American and Asian continents.
This is known as the Ring of Fire.
On the morning of v-day, they are
our second wave of eruptions, exploding
magma around the world.
[MUSIC PLAYING]