Published in

European Geosciences Union, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 8(17), p. 5355-5378, 2017

DOI: 10.5194/acp-17-5355-2017

European Geosciences Union, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions, p. 1-45

DOI: 10.5194/acp-2016-865

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First results of the Piton de la Fournaise STRAP 2015 experiment: multidisciplinary tracking of a volcanic gas and aerosol plume

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

The STRAP (Synergie Transdisciplinaire pour Répondre aux Aléas liés aux Panaches volcaniques) campaign was conducted in 2015 to investigate the volcanic plumes of Piton de La Fournaise (La Réunion, France). For the first time, measurements at the local (near the vent) and at the regional scales around the island were conducted. The STRAP 2015 campaign has become possible thanks to a strong cross-disciplinary collaboration between volcanologists and meteorologists. The main observations during four eruptive periods (85 days) are summarized. They include the estimates of SO 2 , CO 2 and 5 H 2 O emissions, the altitude of the plume at the vent and over different areas of La Réunion Island, the evolution of the SO 2 concentration, the aerosol size distribution, and the aerosol extinction profile. A climatology of the volcanic plume dispersion is also reported. Simulations and measurements showed that the plume formed by weak eruption has a stronger interaction with the surface of the island. Strong SO 2 and particles concentrations above 1000 ppb and 50,000 cm −3 , respectively, are frequently measured over 20 km of distance from the Piton de la Fournaise. The measured aerosol size distribution shows the 10 predominance of small particles in the volcanic plume. A particular emphasis is placed on the gas-particle conversion with several cases of strong nucleation of sulfuric acid observed within the plume and at the distal site of the Maïdo observatory. The STRAP 2015 campaign gave a unique set of multidisciplinary data that can now be used by modellers to improve the numerical paramameterizations of the physical and chemical evolution of the volcanic plumes.