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

2017; Copernicus Publications; Volume: 17; Issue: 8 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5194/acp-17-5355-2017

1680-7324

Pierre Tulet, Andréa Di Muro, Aurélie Colomb, Cyrielle Denjean, Valentin Duflot, Santiago Arellano, Brice Foucart, J. Brioude, Karine Sellegri, Aline Peltier, Alessandro Aiuppa, Christelle Barthe, Chatrapatty Bhugwant, Soline Bielli, Patrice Boissier, Guillaume Boudoire, Thierry Bourrianne, Christοphe Brunet, Frédéric Burnet, Jean‐Pierre Cammas, Franck Gabarrot, Bo Galle, Gaetano Giudice, Christian Guadagno, Fréderic Jeamblu, Philippe Kowalski, Jimmy Leclair de Bellevue, Nicolas Marquestaut, Dominique Mékiès, Jean‐Marc Metzger, Joris Pianezze, Thierry Portafaix, Jean Sciare, Arnaud Tournigand, Nicolas Villeneuve,

Atmospheric Ozone and Climate

Abstract. The STRAP (Synergie Transdisciplinaire pour Répondre aux Aléas liés aux Panaches volcaniques) campaign was conducted over the entire year of 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 were conducted around the island. The STRAP 2015 campaign has become possible thanks to strong cross-disciplinary collaboration between volcanologists and meteorologists. The main observations during four eruptive periods (85 days) are summarised. They include the estimates of SO2, CO2 and H2O emissions, the altitude of the plume at the vent and over different areas of La Réunion Island, the evolution of the SO2 concentration, the aerosol size distribution and the aerosol extinction profile. A climatology of the volcanic plume dispersion is also reported. Simulations and measurements show that the plumes formed by weak eruptions have a stronger interaction with the surface of the island. Strong SO2 mixing ratio and particle concentrations above 1000 ppb and 50 000 cm−3 respectively are frequently measured over a distance of 20 km from Piton de la Fournaise. The measured aerosol size distribution shows the predominance of small particles in the volcanic plume. Several cases of strong nucleation of sulfuric acid have been observed within the plume and at the distal site of the Maïdo observatory. The STRAP 2015 campaign provides a unique set of multi-disciplinary data that can now be used by modellers to improve the numerical parameterisations of the physical and chemical evolution of the volcanic plumes.