The environmental impact of the Puyehue–Cordon Caulle 2011 volcanic eruption on Buenos Aires

Abstract

Abstract. On 4 June 2011, the volcanic complex PuyehueCordon Caulle located in the Chilean Andes erupted, producing a plume of gases and particles that eventually circled the Southern Hemisphere, disrupting air travel and depositing ash in large quantities. On eight occasions, the plume passed over the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, leading local authorities to close the two international airports.The eruption occurred during an on-going field campaign when measurements of the properties of atmospheric aerosol particles were being made in Buenos Aires as part of a yearlong study of the concentration and optical properties of aerosol at one site in the city. The suite of instruments deployed in Buenos Aires were not tailored to measurements of volcanic ash, but were designed to characterize urban conditions. Nevertheless, these measurements were analysed for periods when vertical profiles of aerosol backscatter, made with a ceilometer, clearly showed the presence of the volcano plume over the research site and resulted in airport closure.Aerosol optical thickness derived from AERONET, MODIS and a ceilometer at our research site, all show enhanced values clearly indicating that the three platforms identified the volcanic plume simultaneously. However, a quantitative comparison of the different estimates proves difficult, suggesting large spatial and temporal variability of the plume.Our results indicate that the number concentration of condensation nuclei (CN), the mass concentration of particlebound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PPAH) and the light absorption coefficient exceeded the average background values by more than one standard deviation during the events of volcanic plume. The anomalous concentrations of CN suggest new particle formation, presumably from the conversion of SO 2 , while the anomalous concentrations of PPAH may come from the uptake of PAHs on the plume particles or from chemical reactions on the surface of plume particles. The anomalous absorption coefficients indicate that plume particles may contain certain compounds that can absorb radiation at 550 nm. Another possible explanation consistent with the observations is the scavenging of black carbon from urban sources as the plume descends through the boundary layer to the surface. In addition, the volcanic plume influenced the local meteorology resulting in a decrease of the temperature when compared to the average temperature during days with no plume present.

Lidar observation of the 2011 Puyehue-Cordón Caulle volcanic aerosols at Lauder, New Zealand

“…This volcanic complex had previously erupted in May 1960 (Lara et al, 2004;Raga et al, 2013). The volcanic aerosol plumes traveled eastward from Chile via the prevailing westerlies and passed over New Zealand (Klüser et al, 2013).…”

Volcanic ash modeling with the online NMMB-MONARCH-ASH v1.0 model: model description, case simulation, and evaluation

“…In addition to the significant regional impacts on agriculture, livestock, and water distribution systems, this eruption stranded thousands of passengers due to air traffic disruptions in the Southern Hemisphere, thereby causing important economic losses to airlines and society (e.g., Raga et al, 2013;Wilson et al, 2013). This event is evidence of the global nature of the volcanic ash dispersion phenomena and highlights the need for accurate realtime forecasts of ash clouds.…”

“…The two major airports serving Buenos Aires and the international airport in Montevideo, Uruguay, were closed for several days, along with airports in Patagonia (Wilson et al, 2013). A detailed chronology of the eruption can be found in Collini et al (2013) and Elissondo et al (2016), the stratigraphy and characteristics of the resulting fallout deposit are described in Pistolesi et al (2015) and Bonadonna et al (2015b), and a summary of the environmental impacts of the eruption is discussed in Raga et al (2013) and Wilson et al (2013).…”

Disaster Mitigation Model of Eruption Based on Local Wisdom in Indonesia

“…Among natural disasters, volcano eruption is considered the most dangerous natural disaster [7]. The eruption catastrophe greatly affects the people, both directly and indirectly [8] and gives various impacts to the surrounding environment and society [9,10]. The eruptions can also causes other disasters, like volcanic earthquakes, tsunamis, the change of weather and climate that caused by increased concentrations of aerosols in the earth atmosphere [11,12].…”