VolCAN Project - Drone Swarm Operations and Analytics for Gas Plume Detection and Mapping


Ericksen,J.C., A. Islam, C. Frost, K. Aubert, G. Fricke, V. Dani, R. Fierro, T. Fischer, S. Nowicki, J. Saia, M. Moses (2024). Navigating the Edge: UAV Boundary Tracing for Efficient Volcanic Plume Monitoring. Proceedings of the 2024 IEEE International Symposium on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics (SSRR). 


Fischer, T., C. Mandon, S. Nowicki, J. Erickson, F.V. Rojas, M. Pfeffer, A. Aiuppa, M. Bitetto, G.M. Fricke, M. Moses. CO2 emissions during the 2023 eruption in Reykjanes, Iceland: δ 13C tracks magma degassing. Bull. Volcanology 86, 60 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-024-01751-7.


Ericksen, J. C., T. Fischer, G. Fricke, S. Nowicki, N. Perez, P. Perez, E. Gonzalez and M. Moses (2023). Drone CO2 Measurements During the Tajogaite Volcanic Eruption. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques 2023, 229.  https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-229

B.T. McCormick Kilbride, P.H. Barry, T.P. Fischer, G. Holland, M. Hudak, S. Nowicki, C. Ballentine, M. Hohn, I. Iitikari, K. Mulina, E.J. Nicholson (2024). Helium, carbon and nitrogen isotope evidence for slab influence on volcanic gas emissions at Rabaul caldera, Papua New Guinea. Chemical Geology. (10/01 in press) https://doi.org/10.31223/X5S38M

Ericksen, J. C., Fricke, G. M., Nowicki, S., Fischer, T., Hayes, J., Rosenberger, K., Wolf, S., Fierro, R., and Moses, M. E. (2022). Aerial Survey Robotics in Extreme Environments: Mapping Volcanic CO2 Emissions with Flocking UAVs. Frontiers in Control Engineering, 7.

Galle, B., S. Arellano, N. Bobrowski, V. Conde, T. P. Fischer, G. Gerdes, A. Gutmann, T. Hoffmann, I. Itikarai, T. Krejci, E. Liu, K. Mulina, S. Nowicki, T. Richardson, J. Rüdiger, K. Wood, J. Xu (2021). A multi-purpose, multi-rotor drone system for long range and high-altitude volcanic gas plume measurements. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2020-452.

Liu, EJ., A. Aiuppa, A. Alan, S. Arellano, M. Bitetto, N. Bobrowski, S. Carn, R. Clarke, E. Corrales, JM. de Moor, JA. Diaz, M. Edmonds, TP. Fischer, J. Freer, GM. Fricke, B. Galle, G. Gerdes, G. Giudice, A. Gutmann, C.  Hayer, I. Itikarai, J. Jones, E. Mason, BT. McCormick Kilbride, K. Mulina, S. Nowicki, K. Rahilly, T. Richardson, J. Rüdiger, CI. Schipper, IM. Watson, K. Wood (2020). Aerial strategies advance volcanic gas measurements at inaccessible, strongly degassing volcanoes. Science Advances, AAAS, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abb9103 


Previous Experience and Other Projects

UNM VolCAN Research Project - NSF Research Project 

NV5 Autonomous Robotic Inspection System (ARIS)


Linking Thermophysical Properties of Earth to Mars: Analog Investigations of Past and Present Habitable Environments. (Co-I with C. Edwards, D Rogers, L. Edgar) NASA PSTAR Program 2019-2023.

Funded through the NASA Planetary Science and Technology Through Analog Research (PSTAR) Program


Publications and Presentations:

Tracking Surface Energy Flux at Analog Field Sites for Thermophysical Modeling of Martian Sediments. AHD Koeppel, CS Edwards, LA Edgar, S Nowicki… - LPI Contributions, 2022

Linking Thermal Properties of Terrestrial Sedimentary Environments to Mars. A Koeppel, C Edwards, L Edgar, A Gullikson, K Bennett… - Authorea Preprints, 2022

Field Thermophysical Experiments Of Mars Analog Sites. S Nowicki, K Bennett, L Edgar, C Edwards, H Eifert, A Koppel. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. 53 (No. 6)