@article{PrataDezitterDaviesetal.2016, author = {Prata, A. J. and Dezitter, F. and Davies, I. and Weber, Konradin and Birnfeld, M. and Moriano, D. and Bernardo, C. and Vogel, A. and Prata, G. S. and Mather, T. A. and Thomas, H. E. and Cammas, J. and Weber, M.}, title = {Artificial cloud test confirms volcanic ash detection using infrared spectral imaging}, series = {Scientific reports}, volume = {6}, journal = {Scientific reports}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, doi = {10.1038/srep25620}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Airborne volcanic ash particles are a known hazard to aviation. Currently, there are no means available to detect ash in flight as the particles are too fine (radii < 30 μm) for on-board radar detection and, even in good visibility, ash clouds are difficult or impossible to detect by eye. The economic cost and societal impact of the April/May 2010 Icelandic eruption of Eyjafjallaj{\"o}kull generated renewed interest in finding ways to identify airborne volcanic ash in order to keep airspace open and avoid aircraft groundings. We have designed and built a bi-spectral, fast-sampling, uncooled infrared camera device (AVOID) to examine its ability to detect volcanic ash from commercial jet aircraft at distances of more than 50 km ahead. Here we report results of an experiment conducted over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of France, confirming the ability of the device to detect and quantify volcanic ash in an artificial ash cloud created by dispersal of volcanic ash from a second aircraft. A third aircraft was used to measure the ash in situ using optical particle counters. The cloud was composed of very fine ash (mean radii ~10 μm) collected from Iceland immediately after the Eyjafjallaj{\"o}kull eruption and had a vertical thickness of ~200 m, a width of ~2 km and length of between 2 and 12 km. Concentrations of ~200 μg m(-3) were identified by AVOID at distances from ~20 km to ~70 km. For the first time, airborne remote detection of volcanic ash has been successfully demonstrated from a long-range flight test aircraft.}, 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} }