Isabelle Taylor

Abstract:

Volcanic ash clouds are carefully monitored as they present a significant hazard to humans and aircraft. The primary tool for forecasting the transport of ash from a volcano is dispersion modelling. These models make a number of assumptions about the size, sphericity and density of the ash particles. Few studies have measured the density of ash particles or explored the impact that the assumption of ash density might have on the settling dynamics of ash particles. In this paper, the raw apparent density of 23 samples taken from 15 volcanoes are measured with gas pycnometry, and a negative linear relationship is found between the density and the silica content. For the basaltic ash samples, densities were measured for different particle sizes, showing that the density is approximately constant for particles smaller than 100 µm, beyond which it decreases with size. While this supports the current dispersion model used by the London Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC), where the density is held at a constant (2.3 g cm-3), inputting the measured densities into a numerical simulation of settling velocity reveals a primary effect from the silica content changing this constant. The VAAC density overestimates ash removal times by up to 18 %. These density variations, including those varying with size beyond 100 µm, also impact short-range particle-size distribution (PSD) measurements and satellite retrievals of ash.

Abstract:

Satellite instruments play a valuable role in detecting, monitoring and characterising emissions of ash and gas into the atmosphere during volcanic eruptions. This study uses two satellite instruments, the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) and the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI), to examine the plumes of ash and sulfur dioxide (SO₂) from the April 2021 eruption of La Soufrière, St Vincent. The frequent ABI data have been used to construct a 14 d chronology of a series of explosive events at La Soufrière, which is then complemented by measurements of SO₂ from IASI, which is able to track the plume as it is transported around the globe. A minimum of 35 eruptive events were identified using true, false and brightness temperature difference maps produced with the ABI data. The high temporal resolution images were used to identify the approximate start and end times, as well as the duration and characteristics of each event. From this analysis, four distinct phases within the 14 d eruption have been defined, each consisting of multiple explosive events with similar characteristics: (1) an initial explosive event, (2) a sustained event lasting over 9 h, (3) a pulsatory phase with 25 explosive events in a 65.3 h period and (4) a waning sequence of explosive events. It is likely that the multiple explosive events during the April 2021 eruption contributed to the highly complex plume structure that can be seen in the IASI measurements of the SO₂ column amounts and heights. The bulk of the SO₂ from the first three phases of the eruption was transported eastwards, which based on the wind direction at the volcano implies that the SO₂ was largely in the upper troposphere. Some of the SO₂ was carried to the south and west of the volcano, suggesting a smaller emission of the gas into the stratosphere, there being a shift in wind direction around the height of the tropopause. The retrieved SO₂ heights show that the plume had multiple layers but was largely concentrated between 13 and 19 km, with the majority of the SO₂ being located in the upper troposphere and around the height of the tropopause, with some emission into the stratosphere. An average e-folding time of 6.07±4.74 d was computed based on the IASI SO₂ results: similar to other tropical eruptions of this magnitude and height. The SO₂ was trackable for several weeks after the eruption and is shown to have circulated the globe, with parts of it reaching as far as 45∘ S and 45∘ N. Using the IASI SO₂ measurements, a time series of the total SO₂ mass loading was produced, with this peaking on 13 April (descending orbits) at 0.31±0.09 Tg. Converting these mass values to a temporally varying SO₂ flux demonstrated that the greatest emission occurred on 10 April with that measurement incorporating SO₂ from the second phase of the eruption (sustained emission) and the beginning of the pulsatory phase. The SO₂ flux is then shown to fall during the later stages of the eruption: suggesting a reduction in eruptive energy, something also reflected in ash height estimates obtained with the ABI instrument. A total SO₂ emission of 0.63±0.5 Tg of SO₂ has been derived, although due to limitations associated with the retrieval, particularly in the first few days after the eruption began, this, the retrieved column amounts and the total SO₂ mass on each day should be considered minimum estimates. There are a number of similarities between the 1979 and 2021 eruptions at La Soufrière, with both eruptions consisting of a series of explosive events with varied heights and including some emission into the stratosphere. These similarities highlight the importance of in-depth investigations into eruptions and the valuable contribution of satellite data for this purpose; as these studies aid in learning about a volcano's behaviour, which may allow for better preparation for future eruptive activity.

Abstract:

Rapid and simple estimation of the mass eruption rate (MER) from column height is essential for real-time volcanic hazard management and reconstruction of past explosive eruptions. Using 134 eruptive events from the new Independent Volcanic Eruption Source Parameter Archive (IVESPA, v1.0), we explore empirical MER-height relationships for four measures of column height: spreading level, sulfur dioxide height, and top height from direct observations and as reconstructed from deposits. These relationships show significant differences and highlight limitations of empirical models currently used in operational and research applications. The roles of atmospheric stratification, wind, and humidity remain challenging to detect across the wide range of eruptive conditions spanned in IVESPA, ultimately resulting in empirical relationships outperforming analytical models that account for atmospheric conditions. This finding highlights challenges in constraining the MER-height relation using heterogeneous observations and empirical models, which reinforces the need for improved eruption source parameter data sets and physics-based models.

Abstract:

A series of explosive eruptions began at La Soufrière, on St Vincent, on 9th April 2021, with the last event occurring on 22nd April. The eruption was observed by the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) on the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite East (GOES-East) platform. The instrument measures in 16 channels in the visible, near-infrared and infrared, across a large area which includes the Carribean. During the La Soufrière eruption, the ABI instrument made measurements for the full disc every 10-minutes, and for part of the eruption, a mesoscale region was moved over the volcano, providing data every minute. In this study, data from this satellite instrument has been used to construct four images: (a) a true colour image, (b) a false colour image (12.3 - 10.3 µm, 11.2 - 8.4 µm and 10.3 µm channels assigned to red, green and blue respectively), (c) 10.3 - 11.2 µm brightness temperature difference, and (d) 11.2 - 12.3 µm brightness temperature difference. These have been used to study the plumes produced during the April 2021 eruption, allowing the identification of at least 35 explosive events. In this repository, an animation of the created images has been provided for each of the explosive events identified. The animation names are constructed to indicate the volcano (LaSoufriere), the instrument (ABI), the type of data (i.e. full disc or meso), the event number, the start date/time (yyyymmddhhmm) and the end date/time (yyyymmddhhmm). For example: ‘LaSoufriere_ABI_full_event01_202104091250_202104091740.mp4’ Note that the start and end times indicate the start time of measurement period and some adjustment is needed to ascertain the time over the volcano for the full disc (~ +243 seconds). This has been accounted for in the title shown in each frame of the full disc animations. Also note that two animations are provided for event 5 as measurements from the mesoscale region began during this period. We are grateful to the NOAA Big Data Program through which the GOES-16 data are available. These animations accompany a paper: Taylor, I.A., Grainger, R.G., Prata, A.T., Proud, S,R, Mather, T.A., Pyle, D.M.: A satellite chronology of plumes from the April 2021 eruption of La Soufrière, St Vincent, Accepted for publication in Atmospheric, Chemistry and Physics.