Reducing discrepancies in ground and satellite-observed eruption heights

Tupper, Andrew; Wunderman, Richard

doi:10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2009.02.015

Cited by 34 publications

(29 citation statements)

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“…These modelling results are consistent with an observed bimodal tendency in cloud heights in the tropics (with a clustering of eruption heights near the tropopause and the ground and a relative lack of midtropospheric maxima) and the number of ice-rich/ash poor high altitude clouds seen in the tropics, including for many eruptions of Soputan and Manam (Tupper et al 2007;Tupper and Wunderman 2009).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

“…Some of Sawada's data was used with further analyses to focus on the Asia/Pacific tropics (Tupper and Wunderman 2009), where again a poor correlation between groundbased and satellite-based observations was found (with strong underestimation of cloud heights from the ground), and a definite clustering of cloud heights near the tropopause. Many of these eruption clouds have appeared ice and gas-rich, apparently not just from ground or sea water entering the vent (e.g.…”

Section: Observations Of Volcanic Plumesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Tall clouds from small eruptions: the sensitivity of eruption height and fine ash content to tropospheric instability

et al. 2009

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A critical factor in successfully monitoring and forecasting volcanic ash dispersion for aviation safety is the height reached by eruption clouds, which is affected by environmental factors, such as wind shear and atmospheric instability. Following earlier work using the Active Tracer High Resolution Atmospheric Model for strong Plinian eruptions, this study considered a range of eruption strengths in different atmospheres. The results suggest that relatively weak volcanic eruptions in the moist tropics can trigger deep convection that transports volcanic material to 15-20 km. For the same volcanic strength there can be *9 km difference between eruption heights in moist tropical and dry subpolar environments (a larger height difference than previously suggested), which appears consistent with observations. These results suggest that eruption intensity should not be estimated from eruption height alone for tropospheric eruptions and also that the average height of volcanic eruptions may increase if the tropical atmospheric belt widens in a changing climate. Ash aggregation is promoted by hydrometeors (particularly liquid A. Tupper (&) Northern Territory Regional Office, Bureau of Meteorology,

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Section: Observations Of Volcanic Plumesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tall clouds from small eruptions: the sensitivity of eruption height and fine ash content to tropospheric instability

et al. 2009

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“…In order to minimize the potential error in the SO 2 retrieval, the most appropriate CMA must be carefully identified. This may be accomplished via comparison between ancillary observations of plume altitude, typically from ground observations, pilot reports [ Tupper and Wunderman , 2009] or satellite‐based data from instruments such as the Cloud‐Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) lidar [ Winker et al , 2003].…”

Section: Data Collection and Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

First synoptic analysis of volcanic degassing in Papua New Guinea

McCormick

Edmonds

Mather

et al. 2012

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

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[1] We report the first satellite-based survey of volcanic sulphur dioxide (SO 2 ) degassing in Papua New Guinea, using Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) data. OMI is sensitive to low-level passive degassing. These observations are useful for volcano monitoring, hazard assessment (particularly aviation hazard) and assessment of arc geochemical budgets and are of immense value in remote regions with little ground-based instrumentation, such as Papua New Guinea. We identify Bagana, Manam, Rabaul, Ulawun and Langila as the active sources of volcanic SO 2 in Papua New Guinea, with Bagana being the largest source. We present an OMI SO 2 time series for 2005-2008 and a total detected regional output of $1.8 Â 10 9 kg SO 2 . About 40% of emissions were released by major eruption events at Manam (January 2005), Bagana (June 2006) and Rabaul (October 2006). Over the past century however, we estimate that major explosive eruptions contribute <5% of the arc-scale SO 2 emission budget. Ground-based DOAS measurements of SO 2 degassing at five of Papua New Guinea's volcanoes are compared with our OMI observations. The total OMI SO 2 output is only $20% of the total extrapolated from DOAS, a discrepancy which we demonstrate is consistent with other volcanic arcs. Therefore, the true total regional SO 2 output may be considerably higher than that detected by OMI. Uncertainties in the OMI SO 2 data include the effects of in-plume chemical processing and dilution of SO 2 prior to the satellite overpass, OMI's reduced sensitivity to low levels of SO 2 in the planetary boundary layer and interference by meteorological clouds.

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“…SO 2 is also used as a proxy for the presence of volcanic ash, although the colocation of SO 2 and ash depends upon the eruption, so this approach is not always reliable for hazard avoidance (Sears et al, 2013). Mitigation strategies to avoid volcanic SO 2 and ash are currently based on ground monitoring and satellite measurements to assess the location and altitude of the proximal volcanic plume, followed by the use of dispersion models to forecast the future position and concentration of the plume (Tupper and Wunderman, 2009;Bonadonna et al, 2012;Flemming and Inness, 2013). The outputs of the models are strongly dependent on the assumed initial plume altitude mainly because of the variability of the wind fields with altitude.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The vertical distribution of volcanic SO<sub>2</sub> plumes measured by IASI

et al. 2016

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Abstract. Sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) is an important atmospheric constituent that plays a crucial role in many atmospheric processes. Volcanic eruptions are a significant source of atmospheric SO 2 and its effects and lifetime depend on the SO 2 injection altitude. The Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) on the METOP satellite can be used to study volcanic emission of SO 2 using high-spectral resolution measurements from 1000 to 1200 and from 1300 to 1410 cm −1 (the 7.3 and 8.7 µm SO 2 bands) returning both SO 2 amount and altitude data. The scheme described in Carboni et al. (2012) has been applied to measure volcanic SO 2 amount and altitude for 14 explosive eruptions from 2008 to 2012. The work includes a comparison with the following independent measurements: (i) the SO 2 column amounts from the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull plumes have been compared with Brewer ground measurements over Europe; (ii) the SO 2 plumes heights, for the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull and 2011 Grimsvötn eruptions, have been compared with CALIPSO backscatter profiles. The results of the comparisons show that IASI SO 2 measurements are not affected by underlying cloud and are consistent (within the retrieved errors) with the other measurements. The series of analysed eruptions (2008 to 2012) show that the biggest emitter of volcanic SO 2 was Nabro, followed by Kasatochi and Grímsvötn. Our observations also show a tendency for volcanic SO 2 to reach the level of the tropopause during many of the moderately explosive eruptions observed. For the eruptions observed, this tendency was independent of the maximum amount of SO 2 (e.g. 0.2 Tg for Dalafilla compared with 1.6 Tg for Nabro) and of the volcanic explosive index (between 3 and 5).

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Reducing discrepancies in ground and satellite-observed eruption heights

Cited by 34 publications

References 18 publications

Tall clouds from small eruptions: the sensitivity of eruption height and fine ash content to tropospheric instability

Tall clouds from small eruptions: the sensitivity of eruption height and fine ash content to tropospheric instability

First synoptic analysis of volcanic degassing in Papua New Guinea

The vertical distribution of volcanic SO<sub>2</sub> plumes measured by IASI

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Reducing discrepancies in ground and satellite-observed eruption heights

Cited by 34 publications

References 18 publications

Tall clouds from small eruptions: the sensitivity of eruption height and fine ash content to tropospheric instability

Tall clouds from small eruptions: the sensitivity of eruption height and fine ash content to tropospheric instability

First synoptic analysis of volcanic degassing in Papua New Guinea

The vertical distribution of volcanic SO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; plumes measured by IASI

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The vertical distribution of volcanic SO<sub>2</sub> plumes measured by IASI