We found a match
Your institution may have rights to this item. Sign in to continue.
- Title
Impacts of the 2014-2015 Holuhraun eruption on the UK atmosphere.
- Authors
Twigg, Marsailidh M.; Ilyinskaya, Evgenia; Beccaceci, Sonya; Green, David C.; Jones, Matthew R.; Langford, Ben; Leeson, Sarah R.; Lingard, Justin J. N.; Pereira, Gloria M.; Carter, Heather; Poskitt, Jan; Richter, Andreas; Ritchie, Stuart; Simmons, Ivan; Smith, Ron I.; Tang, Y. Sim; Van Dijk, Netty; Vincent, Keith; Nemitz, Eiko; Vieno, Massimo
- Abstract
Volcanic emissions, specifically from Iceland, pose a pan-European risk and are on the UK National Risk Register due to potential impacts on aviation, public health, agriculture, the environment and the economy, both from effusive and explosive activity. During the 2014-2015 fissure eruption of the Holuhraun in Iceland, the UK atmosphere was significantly perturbed. This study focuses on the first four months of the eruption (September to December 2014). During this period there was one major incursion in September 2014, affecting the surface concentrations of both aerosols and gases across the UK, with sites in Scotland experiencing the highest sulfur dioxide (SO2) concentrations. At the two UK EMEP supersite observatories (Auchencorth Moss, SE Scotland and Harwell, SE England) significant alterations in sulfate (SO42-) content of PM10 and PM2.5 during this event, concurrently with evidence of an increase in ultrafine aerosol, most likely due to nucleation and growth of aerosol within the plume, were observed. At Auchencorth Moss, higher hydrochloric acid (HCl) concentrations during the September event (max = 1.21 μg m-3, c.f annual average 0.12 μg m-3 in 2013), were assessed to be due to acid displacement of chloride (Cl-) from sea salt (NaCl) to form HCl gas rather than due to primary emissions HCl from Holuhraun. The gas and aerosol partioning at Auchencorth moss of inorganic species by thermodynamic modelling, confirmed the observed partioning of HCl. Volcano plume episodes were observed by the majority of the UK air quality monitoring networks during the first 4 months, at both hourly and monthly resolution. In the monthly networks, SO2 concentrations were significantly elevated at remote "clean" sites in NE Scotland and SW England, with record high SO2 concentrations for some sites. For sites which are regularly influenced by anthropogenic emissions, taking into account the underlying trends, the eruption led to statistically unremarkable SO2 concentrations (return probabilities >0.1, ~10 months). However for a few sites, SO2 concentrations were clearly were much higher than has been previously observed (return probability <0.005, >3000 months). The Icelandic eruption has resulted in a unique study providing direct evidence of atmospheric chemistry perturbation of both gases and aerosols in the UK background atmosphere. The measurements can be used to both challenge and verify existing atmospheric chemistry of volcano plumes. If all European data sets were collated this would allow improved model verification and risk assessments for future volcanic eruptions.
- Subjects
ICELAND; VOLCANIC eruptions; PUBLIC health; ATMOSPHERIC aerosols; SULFUR dioxide; HYDROCHLORIC acid
- Publication
Atmospheric Chemistry & Physics Discussions, 2016, p1
- ISSN
1680-7367
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.5194/acp-2016-177