The Eyjafjallajökull eruption in April 2010 – detection of volcanic plume using in-situ measurements, ozone sondes and lidar-ceilometer profiles

Flentje, H.; Claude, H.; Elste, T.; Gilge, Stefan; Köhler, Ulf; Plaß-Dülmer, C.; Steinbrecht, Wolfgang; Thomas, Werner; Werner, Anja; Fricke, Wolfgang

doi:10.5194/acp-10-10085-2010

Cited by 164 publications

(163 citation statements)

References 16 publications

(18 reference statements)

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“…The calculation indicates that the production of sulfuric acid reached 3.7 parts per trillion by volume (pptv, exceeding the 09-14:00 90th-percentile determined from long-term measurements (from 2005 to present days) using the same calculation procedure. The sulfuric acid levels that we calculate are in the same order of magnitude as the one directly measured at the Zugspitze in the Eyjafjalla plume in April 2010 (0.65 pptv) (14). (Fig.…”

Section: The Volcanic Plume Detectionsupporting

confidence: 56%

“…Both the SO 2 and the particle number concentrations (Dp > 3 nm) where detected with concentrations exceeding the 99th-percentile value (years 2000-2007), and were highly correlated with each other (14). At the puy de Dôme station, a strong depolarization signal indicative of volcanic ash (15) was detected using LIDAR measurements ( Fig.…”

Section: The Volcanic Plume Detectionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Observations of nucleation of new particles in a volcanic plume

Boulon

Sellegri

Hervo

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Volcanic eruptions caused major weather and climatic changes on timescales ranging from hours to centuries in the past. Volcanic particles are injected in the atmosphere both as primary particles rapidly deposited due to their large sizes on time scales of minutes to a few weeks in the troposphere, and secondary particles mainly derived from the oxidation of sulfur dioxide. These particles are responsible for the atmospheric cooling observed at both regional and global scales following large volcanic eruptions. However, large condensational sinks due to preexisting particles within the plume, and unknown nucleation mechanisms under these circumstances make the assumption of new secondary particle formation still uncertain because the phenomenon has never been observed in a volcanic plume. In this work, we report the first observation of nucleation and new secondary particle formation events in a volcanic plume. These measurements were performed at the puy de Dôme atmospheric research station in central France during the Eyjafjallajokull volcano eruption in Spring 2010. We show that the nucleation is indeed linked to exceptionally high concentrations of sulfuric acid and present an unusual high particle formation rate. In addition we demonstrate that the binary H 2 SO 4 − H 2 O nucleation scheme, as it is usually considered in modeling studies, underestimates by 7 to 8 orders of magnitude the observed particle formation rate and, therefore, should not be applied in tropospheric conditions. These results may help to revisit all past simulations of the impact of volcanic eruptions on climate.secondary aerosols | volcanic sulfur | nanoparticles V olcanic eruptions and their impact on climate have been extensively investigated in geological archives such as sediments (1), ice cores (2-5), and through modeling studies (6, 7) but processes taking place in the volcanic plume have rarely been directly observed. The sulfur dioxide emitted in large amounts during explosive volcanic eruptions (8) can be oxidized to sulfuric acid, thus many authors suspect that the formed sulfuric acid gives rise to the formation of new secondary particle from binary homogeneous nucleation mechanism (1, 9-12). Those new particles can then affect the atmospheric radiative balance both directly and indirectly because they can act as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) (13). This leads to a cooling effect, which is on a time scale from months to years, depending on the location of the eruption and the height at which volcanic gases were emitted.The Eyjafjallajokull volcano located in the south of Iceland [63°38′ N, 19°36′ W, summit 1,660 m above sea level (asl)] erupted on March 20, 2010. A major outbreak of the central crater under the covering ice cap followed on April 14, 2010 (Institute of Earth Sciences, 2010). A large volcanic plume composed of ashes and gases rose up to the tropopause level (approximately 10 km) for days and were observed by satellite and ground-based remote sensing instruments. The volcanic plume reached European altitude s...

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Section: The Volcanic Plume Detectionsupporting

confidence: 56%

Section: The Volcanic Plume Detectionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Observations of nucleation of new particles in a volcanic plume

Boulon

Sellegri

Hervo

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Typical z values for ACL systems are a few meters. The overlap function O(z) is 0 (no overlap) near the ground and becomes 1 (full overlap) above a certain height, which is typically 200 to 1500 m above ground for ACL systems Flentje et al, 2010a). The missing overlap limits the capability to measure and calibrate in the near range but has no effect where full overlap has been accomplished.…”

Section: The Lidar Equationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development and application of a backscatter lidar forward operator for quantitative validation of aerosol dispersion models and future data assimilation

et al. 2017

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Abstract.A new backscatter lidar forward operator was developed which is based on the distinct calculation of the aerosols' backscatter and extinction properties. The forward operator was adapted to the COSMO-ART ash dispersion simulation of the Eyjafjallajökull eruption in 2010. While the particle number concentration was provided as a model output variable, the scattering properties of each individual particle type were determined by dedicated scattering calculations. Sensitivity studies were performed to estimate the uncertainties related to the assumed particle properties. Scattering calculations for several types of non-spherical particles required the usage of T-matrix routines. Due to the distinct calculation of the backscatter and extinction properties of the models' volcanic ash size classes, the sensitivity studies could be made for each size class individually, which is not the case for forward models based on a fixed lidar ratio. Finally, the forward-modeled lidar profiles have been compared to automated ceilometer lidar (ACL) measurements both qualitatively and quantitatively while the attenuated backscatter coefficient was chosen as a suitable physical quantity. As the ACL measurements were not calibrated automatically, their calibration had to be performed using satellite lidar and ground-based Raman lidar measurements. A slight overestimation of the model-predicted volcanic ash number density was observed. Major requirements for future data assimilation of data from ACL have been identified, namely, the availability of calibrated lidar measurement data, a scattering database for atmospheric aerosols, a better representation and coverage of aerosols by the ash dispersion model, and more investigation in backscatter lidar forward operators which calculate the backscatter coefficient directly for each individual aerosol type. The introduced forward operator offers the flexibility to be adapted to a multitude of model systems and measurement setups.

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“…O'Connor et al, 2004;Markowicz et al, 2008;Heese at al., 2010;Flentje et al, 2010;Stachlewska et al, 2010; either based on the use of ceilometer measurement only or in combination with ancillary measurements provided by a sun photometer or a nephelometer.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In recent years, due to their technical advances, ceilometers show great potential for aerosol applications such as volcanic ash tracking (e.g. Flentje et al, 2010;Emeis et al, 2011; and boundary layer monitoring (e.g. Tsaknakis et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ceilometer aerosol profiling versus Raman lidar in the frame of the INTERACT campaign of ACTRIS

et al. 2015

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Abstract. Despite their differences from more advanced and more powerful lidars, the low construction and operation cost of ceilometers (originally designed for cloud base height monitoring) has fostered their use for the quantitative study of aerosol properties. The large number of ceilometers available worldwide represents a strong motivation to investigate both the extent to which they can be used to fill in the geographical gaps between advanced lidar stations and also how their continuous data flow can be linked to existing networks of the more advanced lidars, like EARLINET (European Aerosol Research Lidar Network).In this paper, multi-wavelength Raman lidar measurements are used to investigate the capability of ceilometers to provide reliable information about atmospheric aerosol properties through the INTERACT (INTERcomparison of Aerosol and Cloud Tracking) campaign carried out at the CNR-IMAA Atmospheric Observatory (760 m a.s.l., 40.60 • N, 15.72 • E), in the framework of the ACTRIS (Aerosol Clouds Trace gases Research InfraStructure) FP7 project. This work is the first time that three different commercial ceilometers with an advanced Raman lidar are compared over a period of 6 months. The comparison of the attenuated backscatter coefficient profiles from a multiwavelength Raman lidar and three ceilometers (CHM15k, CS135s, CT25K) reveals differences due to the expected discrepancy in the signal to noise ratio (SNR) but also due to changes in the ambient temperature on the short and midterm stability of ceilometer calibration. Therefore, technological improvements are needed to move ceilometers towards operational use in the monitoring of atmospheric aerosols in the low and free troposphere.

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The Eyjafjallajökull eruption in April 2010 – detection of volcanic plume using in-situ measurements, ozone sondes and lidar-ceilometer profiles

Abstract: Abstract. Volcanic emissions from the Eyjafjallajökull vol-

Cited by 164 publications

References 16 publications

Observations of nucleation of new particles in a volcanic plume

Observations of nucleation of new particles in a volcanic plume

Development and application of a backscatter lidar forward operator for quantitative validation of aerosol dispersion models and future data assimilation

Ceilometer aerosol profiling versus Raman lidar in the frame of the INTERACT campaign of ACTRIS

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