The 2014-2015 Bárðarbunga fissure eruption at Holuhraun in central Iceland was distinguished by the high emission of gases, in total 9.6 Mt SO 2 , with almost no tephra. This work collates all ground-based measurements of this extraordinary eruption cloud made under particularly challenging conditions: remote location, optically dense cloud with high SO 2 column amounts, low UV intensity, frequent clouds and precipitation, an extensive and hot lava field, developing ramparts, and high-latitude winter conditions. Semi-continuous measurements of SO 2 flux with

The volcanic origin, primarily basaltic, of most of the surface material in Iceland influences its physical properties and appearance. Size distributions, shape analyses and melting experiments were made for surface material collected in high‐erosion dust source areas and fresh volcanic ash deposits to determine whether they differ from one another and from dust from other major dust sources. The major differences found between Icelandic dust and dust from other major dust sources in the world, such as the Sahara, are in the particle shapes, lower density and darker colour. Icelandic dust particles greater than 20 μm retain volcanic morphological properties that are also found in fresh volcanic ash. Dust and fresh volcanic ash particles less than 20 μm are crystalline and blocky in nature, similar to the dust from other global source regions. The finer grained (<20 μm) Icelandic particles will have similar suspension and transport behaviours and be similarly hazardous to health and infrastructure as non‐Icelandic dust. The coarser particles (>20 μm) will have different suspension and transport behaviours than other dusts due to the volcanic morphology. Icelandic surface material has between 5% and 30% glassy particles compared to fresh volcanic ash which has more than 50% glassy particles. Glassy particles were observed to melt at a lower temperature than the mineral grains; and, as a result, volcanic ash is found to be more threatening to aircraft engines than the typical dust from Iceland. Icelandic dust was observed to be blocky, or plate‐like in the respirable size fraction, suggesting similar health hazards as dust from other regions.

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