HR: 0830h
AN: V11C-0517    [PDF]
TI: Photometric Observations of Aerosol Plumes From Volcanoes in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua
AU: * Lopez, T M
EM: tmlopez@mtu.edu
AF: Michigan Technological University, Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences, 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931 United States
AU: Watson, I
EM: watson@mtu.edu
AF: Michigan Technological University, Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences, 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931 United States
AU: Rodriguez, L A
EM: larodrig@mtu.edu
AF: Michigan Technological University, Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences, 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931 United States
AU: Branan, Y K
EM: ykbranan@mtu.edu
AF: Michigan Technological University, Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences, 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931 United States
AU: Rose, W I
EM: raman@mtu.edu
AF: Michigan Technological University, Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences, 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931 United States
AU: Bluth, G J
EM: gbluth@mtu.edu
AF: Michigan Technological University, Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences, 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931 United States
AB: Visible to near infrared sun-photometers were used to measure spectral optical depths in order to infer particle size distributions of volcanic aerosols in plumes from volcanoes in the Central American arc. Data were taken from the following volcanoes on the listed dates in 2002: Pacaya, Guatemala on January 14, 16, 20 and 21; Santa Ana, El Salvador on January 24 and 26; San Miguel, El Salvador on January 28; and San Cristobal, Nicaragua on February 3. These volcanoes were chosen for study because of: good calibration of the sun-photometer (Pacaya), the presence (and effects) of a crater lake (Santa Ana) and a paucity of previous measurements (San Miguel and San Cristobal). The optical properties of these tropospheric volcanic aerosols will be retrieved after the removal of the background optical depth. Through the application of the Angstrom equation and a King-type inversion, the Angstrom coefficients, the particle size distribution, and the effective radius (Reff) will be determined (Watson and Oppenheimer, 2000; 2001). Through these methods we hope to increase the understanding of emission and conversion processes of tropospheric volcanic aerosols. We hope the interpretation of these data will help elucidate environmental and climatic effects of these aerosols on local to global scales, and provide insight into modulation of aerosol emissions through the presence of a crater lake.
DE: 0305 Aerosols and particles (0345, 4801)
DE: 0370 Volcanic effects (8409)
DE: 0994 Instruments and techniques
DE: 8409 Atmospheric effects (0370)
SC: Volcanology, Geochemistry, Petrology [V]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting