The chemical composition of rivers and snow affected by the 2014/2015 Bárðarbunga eruption, Iceland

Major impact of volcanic gases on the chemical composition of precipitation in Iceland during the 2014–2015 Holuhraun eruption

“…Galeczka et al . [] further reported values for various major cations and trace elements in precipitation close to the eruption site with sometimes elevated values of Al, Fe, Na, Ca, and Mg relative to unpolluted precipitation and concluded that the origin of these elements was water‐soluble salts and aerosols; they made no attempt to quantify the nature of these end‐member sources, their relative contributions, nor the reason for the elevated cation and metal concentrations in their precipitation samples.…”

“…In this study, often higher Cl and SO 4 concentrations were observed in precipitation during the Holuhraun eruption, considered to have been related to multiple sources of Cl and SO 4 with seawater input in many of the samples presented here (see section 3.3) and including weather and wind conditions during sampling. Galeczka et al [2016] further reported values for various major cations and trace elements in precipitation close to the eruption site with sometimes elevated values of Al, Fe, Na, Ca, and Mg relative to unpolluted precipitation and concluded that Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 10.1002/2015JD024093 the origin of these elements was water-soluble salts and aerosols; they made no attempt to quantify the nature of these end-member sources, their relative contributions, nor the reason for the elevated cation and metal concentrations in their precipitation samples.…”

“…Large quantities of volcanic gases (CO 2 , SO 2 , HCl, and HF) were emitted into the atmosphere, in total 11 ± 5 (megaton) Mt of SO 2 , 6 ± 2 Mt CO 2 , and 0.1 ± 0.1 Mt HCl [Gíslason et al, 2015;McCoy and Hartmann, 2015;Schmidt et al, 2015]. The gases were found to affect the nearby snow and increase the chemical load to some extent in the surrounding river catchments [Galeczka et al, 2016]. Sulfur dioxide may hydrate and oxidize in the atmosphere and can form various compounds including sulfur trioxide (SO 3 ) and sulfuric acid (H 2 SO 4 ) as well as sulfur aerosols [Lelieveld, 1993;Seinfeld and Pandis, 1998;Schmidt et al, 2010].…”

“…Sulfur dioxide may hydrate and oxidize in the atmosphere and can form various compounds including sulfur trioxide (SO 3 ) and sulfuric acid (H 2 SO 4 ) as well as sulfur aerosols [Lelieveld, 1993;Seinfeld and Pandis, 1998;Schmidt et al, 2010]. Together with HCl and HF, the sulfur-bearing gases usually have a considerable effect on the composition of precipitation and potentially cause unusually high chemical loads, thus affecting ecosystems including vegetation and aquatic life [Williams-Jones and Rymer, 2000;Flaathen and Gíslason, 2007;Galeczka et al, 2016].…”

Icecap and Subglacial Crustal Deformation Inferred From SAR Pixel Tracking: The 2014 Dike Intrusion Episode in the Bárðarbunga Volcanic System, Iceland

“…At the two other cauldrons, however, it was inferred that eruptive products were inferred to be at the ice‐bedrock contact. The chemical compositions of the river water discharged from the icecap during and after the eruption exhibited notable changes, suggesting subglacial eruptions before the Holuhraun eruption (Galeczka et al, ). Despite these indications of subglacial eruptions, however, no jökulhlaup was observed.…”