Abstract
Abstract. In April 2007, the Piton de la Fournaise volcano (Réunion island) entered into its biggest eruption recorded in the last century. Due to the absence of a sensors network in the vicinity of the volcano, an estimation of degassing during the paroxysmal phase of the event has not been performed. Nevertheless, the SO2 plume and aerosols have been observed by the OMI and CALIOP space sensors, respectively. The mesoscale chemical model MesoNH-C simulates the observed bulk mass of SO2 and the general shape of the SO2 plume spreading over the Indian Ocean. Moreover, an analysis of the SO2 plume budget estimates a total SO2 release of 230 kt, among of which 60 kt have been transformed into H2SO4. 27 kt of SO2 and 21 kt of H2SO4 have been deposited at the surface by dry deposition. With this top down approach, the temporal evolution of the SO2 emission has been estimated during the most active period of the eruption. The peak of degassing was estimated at 1800 kg s−1 in the morning of 6~April. The temporal evolution of SO2 emission presented here can also be used for local studies.
Highlights
Volcanoes represent one of the most significant natural sources of pollutants in the atmosphere, both during and between eruptions (Mather et al, 2005)
The amount of SO2 released into the atmosphere by the eruption of Piton de la Fournaise in April 2007 at La Reunion needs to be estimated for two reasons
It is devoted to analysis at the synoptic scale of the evolution of SO2 released into the atmosphere by the eruption of the Piton de la Fournaise volcano
Summary
Volcanoes represent one of the most significant natural sources of pollutants in the atmosphere, both during and between eruptions (Mather et al, 2005). Even though most space-based SO2 measurements were useful for volcanic hazard mitigation (including aviation consequences) and for tracking volcanic clouds (Krueger et al, 1995; Afe et al, 2004; Khokhar et al, 2005), a significant advance was introduced with recently launched sensors (Carn et al, 2008) In this context, the amount of SO2 released into the atmosphere by the eruption of Piton de la Fournaise in April 2007 at La Reunion needs to be estimated for two reasons. The first consequence of the vent location near the coast is the rapid and early entrance of the lava flow into seawater This produced a large acid water vapour plume (pH < 2), rich in chlorine and sulfur (Staudacher et al, 2009). This stage of the eruption became more “typical” compared to usual eruptions of Piton de la Fournaise. On 28 April, severals days after the paroxysmal stage, the Observatoire Reunionais de l’Air (ORA) measured 2500 μg m−3 of SO2 in the village of Le Tremblet, which is located close to the volcano (Bhugwant et al, 2008)
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