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Mount Meager Fumarole Mapping
Mount Meager Fumarole Mapping
Documenting Canada's most dangerous volcano from the air.
Collaboration:
Quest University Canada, Simon Fraser University Centre for Natural Hazards Research
Research Partners:
Dr. Steve Quane (Quest), Dr. Glyn Williams-Jones (SFU)
Why It Matters
Mount Meager (Qwe̓lqwe̓lústen in Ucwalmícwts, meaning "cooked face place") is one of only two Canadian volcanoes rated as "very high threat" by Natural Resources Canada. The massif last erupted approximately 2,400 years ago in an event comparable in scale to Mount St. Helens in 1980. In 2010, 53 million cubic metres of rock, snow, and debris collapsed from its slopes - the largest landslide in Canadian history.
The volcano sits just 150 kilometres from Vancouver, overlooking communities of Pemberton and the Lillooet Valley with their more than 33,000 residents. The discovery of actively degassing fumaroles beneath Job Glacier signalled that the volcanic system was not dormant - and demanded immediate documentation.
The Challenge
Mount Meager's fumaroles present a dangerous paradox: the features researchers need to study are obscured by the glacier above them and protected by lethal concentrations of hydrogen sulfide gas. Initial measurements found H₂S levels of 280 ppm - nearly three times the threshold considered immediately dangerous to life.
Drone-based aerial mapping provided critical capability: high-resolution documentation of the glacier surface, fumarole locations, and ice cave openings without putting researchers in harm's way. Our work helped identify the location and extent of ice melt features on Job Glacier, surface changes indicating thermal activity below, access routes for subsequent ground-based research, and baseline imagery for ongoing change detection.
Research Applications
The aerial mapping data contributed to a research program that has since expanded to include glaciovolcanic cave exploration documenting the only known glaciovolcanic cave system in North America, seismic monitoring network installation for landslide early warning, volcanic hazard assessment modelling for the Sea-to-Sky corridor, and NASA EELS project testing robotic systems for future missions to Saturn's moon Enceladus.
In September 2022, specialized cave explorers finally reached the fumarole source beneath the glacier, confirming the presence of sulphur dioxide - a gas that comes directly off magma in active volcanic systems. The expedition proved Mount Meager is not an extinct, cold mountain. It is evolving.
Services:
Aerial photogrammetry, volcanic hazard documentation, hazardous environment operations, scientific research collaboration, change detection baseline mapping
In 2016, a helicopter pilot noticed something alarming on Mount Meager: steam was rising from holes that had melted through Job Glacier. Three new fumaroles - volcanic vents releasing sulfur-rich gases - had opened beneath the ice, raising urgent questions about whether Canada's most dangerous volcano was waking up.
Aeria Solutions provided aerial drone mapping to document these fumarole sites and surrounding glacial terrain, supporting the multi-institutional research effort led by Dr. Glyn Williams-Jones at Simon Fraser University and Dr. Steve Quane at Quest University. Our imagery contributed to baseline documentation that would ultimately lead to the 2022 cave expedition covered by Canadian Geographic and supported by National Geographic through a Trebek Initiative Grant.
