Earth Observation Data Group

Abstract:

The 6-month-long 2014–2015 Holuhraun eruption was the largest in Iceland for 200 years, emitting huge quantities of sulfur dioxide (SO2) into the troposphere, at times overwhelming European anthropogenic emissions. Weather, terrain and latitude made continuous ground-based or UV satellite sensor measurements challenging. Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) data are used to derive the first time series of daily SO2 mass present in the atmosphere and its vertical distribution over the entire eruption period. A new optimal estimation scheme is used to calculate daily SO2 fluxes and average e-folding time every 12 h. For the 6 months studied, the SO2 flux was observed to be up to 200 kt day−1 and the minimum total SO2 erupted mass was 4.4±0.8 Tg. The average SO2 e-folding time was 2.4±0.6 days. Where comparisons are possible, these results broadly agree with ground-based near-source measurements, independent remote-sensing data and values obtained from model simulations from a previous paper. The results highlight the importance of using high-resolution time series data to accurately estimate volcanic SO2 emissions. The SO2 mass missed due to thermal contrast is estimated to be of the order of 3 % of the total emission when compared to measurements by the Ozone Monitoring Instrument. A statistical correction for cloud based on the AVHRR cloud-CCI data set suggested that the SO2 mass missed due to cloud cover could be significant, up to a factor of 2 for the plume within the first kilometre from the vent. Applying this correction results in a total erupted mass of 6.7±0.4 Tg and little change in average e-folding time. The data set derived can be used for comparisons to other ground- and satellite-based measurements and to petrological estimates of the SO2 flux. It could also be used to initialise climate model simulations, helping to better quantify the environmental and climatic impacts of future Icelandic fissure eruptions and simulations of past large-scale flood lava eruptions.

Abstract:

Scientists have been striving to find a theory which would describe the origin of life on Earth for centuries, so far without success. To succeed in solving these problems, one has to broaden their view, to approach the scientific subject from a philosophical standpoint, to set firmly a framework of the research and to define its borders. In order to asses the philosophical contribution of the work, one need not resort to new ideas only, because many ideas have already been expressed in the past. Such concepts are nowadays often remembered only in History of arts and Philosophy classes. In our recent article published in Nature Astronomy, we have presented a very complex model for the creation of methane and its reprocessing to more complex organic molecules including nucleic acid bases from simple gaseous precursors. The purpose of this work is to show the repeating cycle of the creation of complex molecules from CO2 and their subsequent destruction back to their basic parent molecules in the light of the 500-year-old idea of the creation of life by Hieronymus Bosch.