HR: 0830h
AN: V11C-0514    [PDF]
TI: Probing Volcanic Eruption Clouds With the Airs Spectrometer on Aqua: A New Tool for Quantifying Sulfur Dioxide and Ash Emissions
AU: * Edmonds, Y
EM: yedmon1@umbc.edu
AF: Physics Department/JCET University of Maryland Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 United States
AU: Strow, L L
EM: strow@umbc.edu
AF: Physics Department/JCET University of Maryland Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 United States
AU: Carn, S
EM: scarn@umbc.edu
AF: Physics Department/JCET University of Maryland Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 United States
AU: Machado, S D
EM: sergio@umbc.edu
AF: Physics Department/JCET University of Maryland Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 United States
AU: Hannon, S
EM: hannon@umbc.edu
AF: Physics Department/JCET University of Maryland Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 United States
AB: Since its launch on EOS/Aqua in May 2002, the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) has successfully detected SO$_{2}$ and ash clouds emitted during a number of volcanic eruptions. Detection of SO$_{2}$ is achieved using the strong infrared absorption band of the gas centered around 7.3 $\mu$m. For upper tropospheric volcanic clouds, preliminary AIRS SO$_{2}$ retrievals performed using a version of the AIRS radiative transfer algorithm that includes variable SO$_2$ indicate good agreement with SO$_{2}$ amounts detected by the ultraviolet Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) where coincident data are available. However, the higher spatial, spectral and temporal resolution of AIRS provides much improved coverage of volcanic emissions at lower altitudes, such as the October 2002 eruption of Mt.Etna (Italy). AIRS retrievals of SO$_{2}$ and ash optical depths and effective particle radii in volcanic clouds from several eruptions will be presented, including Etna, Ruang (Indonesia, September 2002), Reventador (Ecuador, November 2002), Anatahan (Mariana Islands, May 2003) and Soufriere Hills (Montserrat, July 2003). These examples demonstrate the potential of AIRS data to improve measurements of volcanic SO$_{2}$ and ash loading following eruptions, and to refine our understanding of volcanic cloud composition,structure and evolution.
DE: 8409 Atmospheric effects (0370)
DE: 8494 Instruments and techniques
SC: Volcanology, Geochemistry, Petrology [V]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting