Abstract
Volcanic air pollution from both explosive and effusive activity can affect large populations as far as thousands of kilometers away from the source, for days to decades or even centuries. Here, we summarize key advances and prospects in the assessment of health hazards, effects, risk, and management. Recent advances include standardized ash assessment methods to characterize the multiple physicochemical characteristics that might influence toxicity; the rise of community-based air quality monitoring networks using low-cost gas and particulate sensors; the development of forecasting methods for ground-level concentrations and associated public advisories; the development of risk and impact assessment methods to explore health consequences of future eruptions; and the development of evidence-based, locally specific measures for health protection. However, it remains problematic that the health effects of many major and sometimes long-duration eruptions near large populations have gone completely unmonitored. Similarly, effects of prolonged degassing on exposed populations have received very little attention relative to explosive eruptions. Furthermore, very few studies have longitudinally followed populations chronically exposed to volcanic emissions; thus, knowledge gaps remain about whether chronic exposures can trigger development of potentially fatal diseases. Instigating such studies will be facilitated by continued co-development of standardized protocols, supporting local study teams and procuring equipment, funding, and ethical permissions. Relationship building between visiting researchers and host country academic, observatory, and agency partners is vital and can, in turn, support the effective communication of health impacts of volcanic air pollution to populations, health practitioners, and emergency managers.
Highlights
Over a billion people are estimated to live within 100 km of an active volcano (Freire et al 2019)
We address the state of knowledge regarding volcanic air pollution and health
This includes a discussion of hazard assessment methods, a summary of reported human health effects, a review of risk assessment, population preparedness and
Summary
Over a billion people are estimated to live within 100 km of an active volcano (Freire et al 2019). Eruptions may displace large numbers of people temporarily or permanently (Cuthbertson et al 2020) with cascading health and social impacts including disease outbreaks due to overcrowding, food insecurity, mental health issues, and violence (Connell and Lutkehaus 2017). Often referred to as “volcanic air pollution” (Tam et al 2016; Crawford et al 2021), can present chronic, far-reaching hazards which may have harmful and long-lasting effects on populations across large geographic areas (Oppenheimer et al 2003). We address the state of knowledge regarding volcanic air pollution and health. This includes a discussion of hazard assessment methods, a summary of reported human health effects, a review of risk assessment, population preparedness and
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