Modeling Concentrations of Resuspended Volcanic Ash
Abstract
Volcanic ash may resuspend from ground deposits and resulting concentrations may be high enough to impact human health, aviation, and ventilation systems. Atmospheric transport and dispersion models, ATDMs, have been used to predict concentrations of resuspended volcanic ash in locations which are at risk of such events. The modeling approach is similar to that for dust storms. Resuspension due to transfer of momentum from the atmosphere to the deposit is modeled. Emissions are estimated to be a function of the friction velocity which is supplied by a numerical weather prediciton, NWP, model which is also used to drive the ATDM. The spatial and time resolution of the NWP data is expected to be important as resuspension depends on very local conditions. We model the resuspension of volcanic ash from a deposit in Iceland with the HYSPLIT model driven with meteorological fields from the ECMWF ERA5 dataset as well as the weather research and forecasting, WRF, model at three different spatial resolutions (27 km, 9 km and 3 km). Model forecasts are compared to PM10 measurements at four stations during the time period after the 2010 eruption of Eyjafjallojokull. The sensitivity of the forecast to NWP model resolution, the form of the emission strength function, and HYSPLIT concentration grid resolution is investigated.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018AGUFM.V51D0135C
- Keywords:
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- 4316 Physical modeling;
- NATURAL HAZARDSDE: 8485 Remote sensing of volcanoes;
- VOLCANOLOGYDE: 8488 Volcanic hazards and risks;
- VOLCANOLOGY