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| Titel |
The prediction and observation of volcanic ash clouds during the Eyjafjallajökull eruption |
| VerfasserIn |
Helen Dacre, Alan Grant |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2011
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 13 (2011) |
| Datensatznummer |
250053507
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| Zusammenfassung |
| The Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland erupted on 14 April 2010 emitting a plume of
ash into the atmosphere. The ash was transported from Iceland towards Europe
where cloud-free skies allowed ground-based lidars at Chilbolton in England and
Leipzig in Germany to estimate the mass concentration in the ash plume as it passed
overhead. The UK Met Office’s Numerical Atmospheric-dispersion Modelling
Environment, NAME, has been used to simulate the evolution of the ash plume from the
Eyjafjallajökull volcano during the initial phase of the ash emissions, 14-16 April
2010.
NAME captures the timing and sloped structure of the ash layer observed over Leipzig,
close to the centre of the plume. Failure of the driving meteorology to represent the complex
situation along a decaying cold front traveling southwards over the UK results in a timing
error at distances far from the centre of the plume, although the spatial error is small. Taking
the timing error into account, NAME is able to capture the sloped ash layer over the
UK.
Comparison of the lidar observations and NAME simulations has allowed reconstruction
of the plume height time-series during the initial phase of the eruption. It is necessary to
represent the large, short-term fluctuations in plume height in order to accurately predict ash
plume structure at long range. Quantitative comparison with the mass concentrations at
Leipzig and Chilbolton suggest that between 3 and 4% of the total emitted mass
flux is transported as far as these sites by small (< 100μm diameter) ash particles. |
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