Volcanic SO2 Total Mass computed on Mount Etna (Sicily, Italy) exploiting Sentinel-5P TROPOMI satellite

Type Dataset Class type Remote sensing data

Atmospheric Aerosols


The presented dataset provides a consistent time series of SO₂ total mass (expressed in kilotons) from Mount Etna (Sicily, Italy), covering the period from 2018 to the present. The data have been obtained from the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) onboard the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite, which has been operational since 2018, delivering daily atmospheric column measurements of sulfur dioxide and other gases at unprecedented spatial resolution. Volcanic SO₂ clouds were automatically identified through a two-step procedure: first, the Simple Non-Iterative Clustering (SNIC) segmentation method was applied, an object-based image analysis technique; second, K-means unsupervised machine learning clustering was used on the segmented imagery to further improve cloud discrimination. The algorithm has been implemented in the open-access Google Earth Engine platform, enabling efficient processing of the TROPOMI imagery collection while incorporating quality control filters. This methodological framework supports the generation of SO₂ total mass time series with minimal delay and optimized computation time, providing a valuable tool for rapid and reliable monitoring of volcanic emissions and for enhancing volcanic hazard assessment capabilities.For further details please refer to the paper by Dozzo et al., 2025 (Dozzo, M., Aiuppa, A., Bilotta, G., Cappello, A., & Ganci, G. (2025). A New Algorithm for the Global-Scale Quantification of Volcanic SO2 Exploiting the Sentinel-5P TROPOMI and Google Earth Engine. Remote Sensing, 17(3), 534. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs17030534).

Data and Resources

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Cite as

Dozzo M., Aiuppa A., Bilotta G., Cappello A., Ganci G. (2026). Volcanic SO2Total Mass computed on Mount Etna (Sicily, Italy) exploiting Sentinel-5P TROPOMI satellite [Data set]. figshare. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.31313977

Available data encoding formats csv

Field Value
Dataset Identifier (DOI) 10.6084/m9.figshare.31313977
Other Identifier OthId Identifier: ingv_1221
OthId Organization: INGV
Dataset Themes TECH
Publisher Figshare
Release Date 01-01-2026
Modification Date 13-07-2026
Geographical Name Organizational Unit Responsible Competence Area
GeoNames URL Not available
Dataset Languages ITA
Temporal Coverage Not available
Rights holders Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
ROR 00qps9a02
IPA ingv
University of Palermo (UniPA)
ROR 044k9ta02
Update frequency never
Version Of Not available
Spatial extent {"type": "MultiPolygon","coordinates": [[[ [9,40], [25,40], [25,32], [9,32], [9,40] ]]]}
Authors DOZZO Maddalena
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Italy
AIUPPA Alessandro
University of Palermo (UniPA), Italy
BILOTTA Giuseppe
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Italy
CAPPELLO Annalisa
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Italy
GANCI Gaetana
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Italy
Class type Volcanoes Department
Remote sensing data

Contributing projects

  • Pianeta Dinamico: Geoscienze per la comprensione dei meccanismi di funzionamento della Terra e dei conseguenti rischi naturali
    Ministero dell'Università e della Ricerca (MUR)
    [ 2019-01-01 ⇒ 2029-12-31 ]

Data schema