TY - JOUR A1 - Weber, Konradin A1 - Fischer, Christian A1 - Pohl, Tobias A1 - Böhlke, Christoph A1 - Lange, Martin A1 - Scharifi, Emad A1 - Eliasson, Jonas A1 - Yoshitani, Junichi T1 - The Application of Light Research Aircraft for the Investigation of Volcano Eruption Plumes, Industrial Emissions and Urban Plumes JF - WSEAS Transactions on Environment and Development N2 - 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 Eyjafjallajökull 2010 and Grimsvötn 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. KW - Luftreinhaltung KW - Vulkanismus KW - Vulkanasche KW - Forschungsflugzeug KW - Leichtflugzeug KW - Messtechnik Y1 - 2015 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hbz:due62-opus-50892 SN - 2224-3496 N1 - Open Access Statement: "This is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, deposit to institutional repositories or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access." https://wseas.com/open-access-statement.php VL - 11 SP - 89 EP - 94 PB - WSEAS ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Weber, Konradin A1 - Eliasson, Jonas A1 - Arnason, Gylfi A1 - Rögnvaldsson, Ólafur A1 - Thorsteinsson, Throstur A1 - Palsson, Thorgeir A1 - Böhlke, Christoph A1 - Fischer, Christian A1 - Smith, Paul A1 - Jones, Roderic L. A1 - Tirpitz, Lukas A1 - Platt, Ulrich T1 - Airborne Investigations and WRF - Model Calculations of the Bardarbunga-Holuhraun Eruption Plume T2 - Geophysical Research Abstracts: EGU General Assembly 2015 N2 - The eruption in Holuhraun is the largest producer of lava and gas in Iceland since 1783. The Volcanic Ash Research (VAR) group organized an airborne measurement campaign including 10 flights, where emissions of SO2 and ash concentrations were measured at the source and at the far plume. The highest SO2 concentration at the source was nearly up to 100 mg/m3. This is an extremely high value, compared to other airborne campaigns and a contamination considered to cause serious illness by the Icelandic Directorate of Health. Volcanic ash consisted of very fine particles, but the concentration was low when compared to other recent eruptions. Measurements of the far plume showed that scavenging is very active. The dispersion was successfully modeled with the Weather Research and Foreast (WRF-chem) model and analysis using the model showed that a large amount of the sulphur was precipitated in the Icelandic highlands. KW - Luftreinhaltung KW - Vulkanismus KW - Vulkanasche KW - Messtechnik KW - Atmosphärisches Aerosol KW - Schwefeldioxid Y1 - 2015 UR - https://web.archive.org/web/20240719170649/https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2015/EGU2015-10846-1.pdf N1 - Vortragsabstract VL - 17 PB - Copernicus CY - Göttingen ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Galle, Bo A1 - Arellano, Santiago A1 - Conde, Vladimir A1 - Pfeffer, Melissa A1 - Barsotti, Sara A1 - Stefansdottir, Gerður A1 - Bergsson, Baldur A1 - Bergsson, Bergur A1 - Ingvarsson, Thorgils A1 - Weber, Konradin T1 - Ground based measurements of the gas emission from the Holuhraun volcanic fissure eruption on Iceland 2014/2015 T2 - Geophysical Research Abstracts: EGU General Assembly 2015 N2 - The since 31 August 2014 ongoing volcanic eruption at Holuhraun on Iceland is by far the strongest source of sulfur dioxide in Europe over the last 230 years with sustained emission rates exceeding 100 000 ton/day. This gas emission severely affects local population and has become a concern also for air traffic. The eruption has in December continued at constant pace for 3.5 months. Three scenarios are envisaged for the future; (1) the eruption stops, (2) the fissure extends under the Vattnajökul glacier and (3) Bardarbunga volcano erupts. The two later scenarios will cause increased gas emission, severe ash emissions and extended flooding. Under the scope of the EU-project FUTUREVOLC, a project with 3.5 years duration, aiming at making Iceland a supersite for volcanological research as a European contribution to GEO, we are developing a version of the Scanning DOAS instrument that is adapted to high latitudes with low UV radiation and severe meteorological conditions. Since the first day of the eruption several of these novel instruments has been monitoring the SO2 emission from the eruption. Data from our instruments are still after 3.5 months the only sustained ground-based monitoring of this gas emission. A lot of work is however needed to sustain this operation at a very remote site and under severe field conditions. At the same time the very high concentrations in the gas plume, in combination with bad meteorological conditions require the development of novel methods to derive reliable flux estimates. In this presentation we will discuss the instrumental issues and present the latest version of the emission estimates made from our measurements. KW - Luftreinhaltung KW - Vulkanismus KW - Messtechnik KW - Schwefeldioxid Y1 - 2015 UR - https://web.archive.org/web/20240616051633/https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2015/EGU2015-1722-1.pdf N1 - Vortragsabstract VL - 17 PB - Copernicus CY - Göttingen ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Rögnvaldsson, Ólafur A1 - Arnason, Gylfi A1 - Palsson, Thorgeir A1 - Eliasson, Jonas A1 - Weber, Konradin A1 - Böhlke, Christoph A1 - Thorsteinsson, Throstur A1 - Tirpitz, Lukas A1 - Platt, Ulrich A1 - Smith, Paul D. A1 - Jones, Roderic L. T1 - Modeling of SO2 dispersion from the 2014 Holuhraun eruption in Iceland using WRF-Chem T2 - Geophysical Research Abstracts: EGU General Assembly 2015 N2 - The fissure eruption in Holuhraun in central Iceland is the country’s largest lava and gas eruption since 1783 but has produced very little volcanic ash. The eruption started in late August 2014 and is still ongoing as of January 2015. The main threat from this event has been atmospheric pollution of SO2 that is carried by wind to all parts of the country and produces elevated concentrations of SO2 that have frequently violated National Air Quality Standards (NAQS) in many population centers. The Volcanic Ash Research (VAR) group in Iceland is focused on airborne measurement of ash contamination to support safe air travel, as well as various gas concentrations. In relation to the Holuhraun eruption the VAR group has organized an investigation campaign including 10 measurement flights and performed measurements of both the source emissions and the plume distribution. SO2 concentrations measured at the source showed clear potential for creating pollution events in the toxic range and contamination of surface waters. The data obtained in the measurement campaign was used for calibration of the WRF-chem model of the dispersion of SO2 and volcanic ash concentration. The model has both been run in operational forecast mode (since mid October) as well as in a dynamical downscaling mode, to estimate the dispersion and fallout of SO2 from the plume. The model results indicate that a large part of the sulphur was precipitated in the Icelandic highlands. The first melt waters during the spring thaw are likely to contain acid sulphur compounds that can be harmful for vegetation, with the highland vegetation being the most vulnerable. These results will be helpful to estimate the pollution load on farmlands and pastures of farmers. KW - Luftreinhaltung KW - Vulkanismus KW - Schwefeldioxid KW - Messtechnik Y1 - 2015 UR - https://web.archive.org/web/20240615204204/https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2015/EGU2015-10113.pdf N1 - Vortragsabstract VL - 17 PB - Copernicus CY - Göttingen ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Arnason, Gylfi A1 - Eliasson, Jonas A1 - Weber, Konradin A1 - Böhlke, Christoph A1 - Palsson, Thorgeir A1 - Rögnvaldsson, Ólafur A1 - Thorsteinsson, Throstur A1 - Platt, Ulrich A1 - Tirpitz, Lukas A1 - Jones, Roderic L. A1 - Smith, Paul D. T1 - Results of airborne measurements in the plume near and far from the 2014 Bardarbunga-Holuhraun eruption T2 - Geophysical Research Abstracts: EGU General Assembly 2015 N2 - The Volcanic Ash Research (VAR) group is focused on airborne measurement of ash contamination to support safe air travel. In relations to the recent eruption, the group measured ash and several gaseous species in the plume 10-300 km from the volcano. The eruption emitted ash turned out to be mostly in the fine aerosol range (much less than 10 micrometers in diameter). Our highest measured concentrations were lower than 1 mg/m3 indicating that commercial air traffic was not threatened (greater than 2 mg/m3) by the ash contamination. But we measured sulfur dioxide (SO2 ) up to 90 mg/m3, which presented a potentially dangerous pollution problem. However, airborne measurements indicate that the sulfur concentration decays (probably due to scavenging) as the plume is carried by the wind from the volcano, which limits the area of immediate danger to the public. Here we present size distribution for particulate matter collected during flights, near and far from the crater at various times. The particle data is then compared with simultaneously collected sulfur dioxide data and the rate of decay of is estimated. Sulfur and particle concentration variations with height in the far plume are presented. Some airborne measurements for H2S, NO, NO2 and CO2 will also be presented. This includes correlation matrices for simultaneous measurements of these gases and comparison to National Air Quality Standards and background values. KW - Luftreinhaltung KW - Vulkanasche KW - Vulkanismus KW - Atmosphärisches Aerosol KW - Messtechnik Y1 - 2015 N1 - Vortragsabstract VL - 17 PB - Copernicus CY - Göttingen ER -