@inproceedings{WeberFischerVogeletal.2013, author = {Weber, Konradin and Fischer, Christian and Vogel, Andreas and Pohl, Tobias and B{\"o}hlke, Christoph and Lau, Hendrik and Eliasson, Jonas and Palsson, Thorgeir}, title = {First results of an airborne release of volcanic ash for testing of volcanic ash plume measurement instruments}, series = {Recent Advances in Energy and Environmental Management}, volume = {Energy, Environmental and Structural Engineering Series 13}, booktitle = {Recent Advances in Energy and Environmental Management}, editor = {Mladenov, Valeri and Tasho, Tashev and Hui, Wang and Ivan, Kralov and Sergey, Stankevich and Pelin, Yildiz and Jon, Burley}, publisher = {WSEAS}, pages = {169 -- 172}, year = {2013}, subject = {Vulkanasche}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{VogelWeberFischeretal.2012, author = {Vogel, Andreas and Weber, Konradin and Fischer, Christian and Prata, A. J. and Durant, A. J.}, title = {Aircraft in situ and remote sensing measurements of emissions from Etna volcano, Sicily}, series = {Geophysical Research Abstracts: EGU General Assembly 2012}, booktitle = {Geophysical Research Abstracts: EGU General Assembly 2012}, publisher = {Copernicus}, address = {G{\"o}ttingen}, year = {2012}, abstract = {Volcanoes emit particles (silicates and sulphate aerosol) and gases (e.g., water and sulphur dioxide) which influence the radiative balance of the atmosphere. The rate at which sulphur dioxide oxidises to sulphate aerosol is poorly constrained and measurements of downwind abundance are required to quantify the rate at which this process occurs. During July and November 2011, a series of measurements were performed in emissions from Etna Volcano, Sicily, using the University of Applied Sciences (Dusseldorf) research aircraft. Both in situ and remote sensing instrumentation was simultaneously deployed to quantify the down-wind characteristics of gases and particles in the plume emitted by the volcano. In situ particle characteristics were measured using a Grimm 1.109 optical particle counter (microparticles 0.25-32 microns) and Grimm 1320 diffusion electrometer (nanoparticles 25-300 nanometers). Column abundance of sulphur dioxide was measured using a vertically-pointing differential optical absorption spectrometer (DOAS). These measurements were compared to horizontal pathlength-integrated measurements of sulphur dioxide from the Airborne Volcanic Imaging Object Detector (AVOID). Down-wind plume dispersion was discriminated through a series of aircraft transects below and through the volcanic plume. The emissions contained large amounts of nanoparticles relative to microparticles, which reflects gas-phase nucleation of sulphate aerosol. The AVOID system discriminated horizontal layering of volcanic aerosol at altitudes of up to 12,000 ft from a detection range of >50 km. Plume boundaries were discriminated using a combination of the in situ and DOAS measurements in order to compare to the pathlength-integrated measurements from AVOID.}, subject = {Forschungsflugzeug}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{WeberFischerLangeetal.2015, author = {Weber, Konradin and Fischer, Christian and Lange, Martin and Pohl, Tobias and B{\"o}hlke, Christoph and Wagner, Frank and Mattis, Ina and Flentje, Harald and Sturm, Klaus and Barth, Joachim and Steinkopff, Thomas and Vogel, Andreas}, title = {Aircraft measurements compared with ceilometer measurements during a sahara dust period in Germany}, series = {Geophysical Research Abstracts: EGU General Assembly 2015}, volume = {17}, booktitle = {Geophysical Research Abstracts: EGU General Assembly 2015}, publisher = {Copernicus}, address = {G{\"o}ttingen}, year = {2015}, abstract = {A significant Sahara dust event took place at the beginning of April 2014 over large areas of Germany and Europe. The German Weather Service (DWD) detected and monitored the expansion and propagation of this dust cloud with a ceilometer network of more than 50 ceilometers. Moreover, these ceilometers were also able to track the altitude of the dust cloud at the positions of the ceilometers. Additionally, aircraft measurements over Germany and France were performed with two aircraft by the Duesseldorf University of Applied Sciences. These aircraft were equipped with optical particle counters (OPC) and were able to measure the particle size distribution within the Sahara dust cloud and as a result of this to calculate the particle mass concentration of the dust. The ceilometer measurements and the aircraft measurements complemented each other: whereas the ceilometers gave continuous information about the Sahara dust cloud at the ceilometer positions, the aircraft measurements delivered interpolating results between the ceilometer positions. Moreover, at several ceilometer positions intercomparison flights were performed by spiraling with the aircraft up or down around the ceilometer laser beam. This gave the unique possibility for comparing the remote sensing results of the ceilometers with the in-situ measurements of the aircraft. This study shows that a significant high amount of Saharan dust particles was transported over Germany during a several days long episode. Furthermore, the intercomparison study between the German ceilometer network and aircraft measurements results shows a good agreement. A combination of these techniques could help to detect the vertical and horizontal distribution of the dust cloud and additionally the particle mass concentration.}, subject = {Deutscher Wetterdienst}, language = {en} } @article{WeberFischerPohletal.2015, author = {Weber, Konradin and Fischer, Christian and Pohl, Tobias and B{\"o}hlke, Christoph and Lange, Martin and Scharifi, Emad and Eliasson, Jonas and Yoshitani, Junichi}, title = {The Application of Light Research Aircraft for the Investigation of Volcano Eruption Plumes, Industrial Emissions and Urban Plumes}, series = {WSEAS Transactions on Environment and Development}, volume = {11}, journal = {WSEAS Transactions on Environment and Development}, publisher = {WSEAS}, issn = {2224-3496}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:due62-opus-50892}, pages = {89 -- 94}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Airborne measurements have proved to be an important tool for the investigation of volcanic emission plumes, industrial pollution plumes, fugitive emissions and urban pollution plumes. In this paper several examples are demonstrated, how these investigations can be performed by light and microlight propeller aircraft. Throughout the last years innovative aircraft were developed in the light and microlight class showing an excellent flight performance. This enables airborne measurements, which were performed in former years normally by big jet engine driven research aircraft. Moreover, these light and microlight aircraft are equipped with piston motors, which are sturdy enough to operate even in adverse and harsh flight conditions, e.g. in volcanic plumes with high ash concentration. Additionally, turbo charged versions of these airborne piston motors are available, which allow flight altitudes of 7000m - 9000m enabling a large variety of research missions. Another advantage of light and microlight research aircraft is that they are quite cost effective and have a comparatively short certification process for the installation of new measurement equipment. This made it possible to respond fast to the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallaj{\"o}kull 2010 and Grimsv{\"o}tn 2011 with research flights in volcanic ash plumes over Germany and Iceland. In this way it was possible to deliver real airborne measurements additional to the ash plume model calculations of the London Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC). In this paper examples of airborne measurements in the volcanic plumes of the recent eruptions of Icelandic volcanoes are given. Moreover examples are presented, which highlight the outstanding capabilities of these aircraft for pinpointing industrial emissions and for characterizing urban pollution plumes.}, subject = {Vulkanismus}, language = {en} }