ALBERT

Description: Airborne lidar and in-situ measurements of aerosols and trace gases were performed in volcanic ash plumes over Europe between Southern Germany and Iceland with the Falcon aircraft during the eruption period of the Eyjafjalla volcano between 19 April and 18 May 2010. Flight planning and measurement analyses were supported by a refined Meteosat ash product and trajectory model analysis. The volcanic ash plume was observed with lidar directly over the volcano and up to a distance of 2700 km downwind, and up to 120 h plume ages. Aged ash layers were between a few 100 m to 3 km deep, occurred between 1 and 7 km altitude, and were typically 100 to 300 km wide. Particles collected by impactors had diameters up to 20 μm diameter, with size and age dependent composition. Ash mass concentrations were derived from optical particle spectrometers for a particle density of 2.6 g cm−3 and various values of the refractive index (RI, real part: 1.59; 3 values for the imaginary part: 0, 0.004 and 0.008). The mass concentrations, effective diameters and related optical properties were compared with ground-based lidar observations. Theoretical considerations of particle sedimentation constrain the particle diameters to those obtained for the lower RI values. The ash mass concentration results have an uncertainty of a factor of two. The maximum ash mass concentration encountered during the 17 flights with 34 ash plume penetrations was below 1 mg m−3. The Falcon flew in ash clouds up to about 0.8 mg m−3 for a few minutes and in an ash cloud with approximately 0.2 mg m−3 mean-concentration for about one hour without engine damage. The ash plumes were rather dry and correlated with considerable CO and SO2 increases and O3 decreases. To first order, ash concentration and SO2 mixing ratio in the plumes decreased by a factor of two within less than a day. In fresh plumes, the SO2 and CO concentration increases were correlated with the ash mass concentration. The ash plumes were often visible slantwise as faint dark layers, even for concentrations below 0.1 mg m−3. The large abundance of volatile Aitken mode particles suggests previous nucleation of sulfuric acid droplets. The effective diameters range between 0.2 and 3 μm with considerable surface and volume contributions from the Aitken and coarse mode aerosol, respectively. The distal ash mass flux on 2 May was of the order of 500 (240–1600) kg s−1. The volcano induced about 10 (2.5–50) Tg of distal ash mass and about 3 (0.6–23) Tg of SO2 during the whole eruption period. The results of the Falcon flights were used to support the responsible agencies in their decisions concerning air traffic in the presence of volcanic ash.

Description: Airborne measurements of Lidar backscatter, aerosol concentrations (particle diameters of 4 nm to 50 μm), trace gas mixing ratios (SO2, CO, O3, H2O), single particle properties, and meteorological parameters have been performed in volcanic ash plumes with the Falcon aircraft operated by Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR). A series of 17 flights was performed over Europe between Southern Germany and Iceland during the eruption period of the Eyjafjalla1 volcano between 19 April and 18 May 2010. Flight planning and measurement analyses were supported by a refined Meteosat ash product and trajectory model analysis. The volcanic ash plume was observed with Lidar directly over the volcano and up to a distance of 2700 km downwind. Lidar and in-situ measurements covered plume ages of 7 h to 120 h. Aged ash layers were between a few 100 m to 3 km deep, occurred between 1 and 7 km altitude, and were typically 100 to 300 km wide. Particles collected by impactors had diameters up to 20 μm diameter, with size and age dependent composition. Ash mass concentration was evaluated for a material density of 2.6 g cm−3 and for either weakly or moderately absorbing coarse mode particles (refractive index 1.59+0i or 1.59+0.004i). In the absorbing case, the ash concentration is about a factor of four larger than in the non-absorbing limit. Because of sedimentation constraints, the smaller results are the more realistic ones for aged plumes. The Falcon flew in ash clouds up to about 1 mg m−3 for a few minutes and in an ash cloud with more than 0.2 mg m−3 mean-concentration for about one hour without engine damages. In fresh plumes, the SO2 concentration was correlated with the ash mass concentration. Typically, 0.5 mg m−3 ash concentration was related to about 100 nmol mol−31 SO2 mixing ratio and 70 nmol mol−1 CO mixing ratio increases for this volcano period. In aged plumes, layers with enhanced coarse mode particle concentration but without SO2 enhancements occurred. To first order, ash concentration and SO2 mixing ratio in the plumes decreased by a factor of two within less than a day. The ash plumes were often visible as faint dark layers even for concentrations below 0.1 mg m−3. The ozone concentrations and the humidity inside the plumes were often reduced compared to ambient values. The large abundance of volatile Aitken mode particles suggests nucleation of sulfuric acid droplets. Ammonium sulfate particles were also found on the impactors. The effective diameters decreased from about 5 μm in the fresh plume to about 1 μm for plume ages of up to 6 days. The distal ash mass flux on 2 May was of the order 1800 kg s−1; the SO2 mass flux was about a factor of 3–4 smaller. The volcano ejected about 40 Tg of ash mass and 10 Tg of SO2 during the whole eruption period. The results of the Falcon flights were used to support the responsible agencies in their decisions concerning air traffic in the presence of volcanic ash. The data described may be used for further studies, including comparisons to satellite and ground or space based Lidar observations, and for model improvements. 1 Also known as Eyjafjallajökull or Eyjafjöll volcano, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1683937/Eyjafjallajokull-volcano