Large scale modeling of the transport, chemical transformation and mass budget of the sulfur emitted during the April 2007 eruption of Piton de la Fournaise

• Main Authors: P. Tulet, N. Villeneuve
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2011-05-01
• Series: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
• Online Access: http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/11/4533/2011/acp-11-4533-2011.pdf

In April 2007, the Piton de la Fournaise volcano (Réunion island) entered into its biggest eruption recorded in the last century. Due to the absence of a sensors network in the vicinity of the volcano, an estimation of degassing during the paroxysmal phase of the event has not been performed. Nevertheless, the SO<sub>2</sub> plume and aerosols have been observed by the OMI and CALIOP space sensors, respectively. The mesoscale chemical model MesoNH-C simulates the observed bulk mass of SO<sub>2</sub> and the general shape of the SO<sub>2</sub> plume spreading over the Indian Ocean. Moreover, an analysis of the SO<sub>2</sub> plume budget estimates a total SO<sub>2</sub> release of 230 kt, among of which 60 kt have been transformed into H<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub>. 27 kt of SO<sub>2</sub> and 21 kt of H<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub> have been deposited at the surface by dry deposition. With this top down approach, the temporal evolution of the SO<sub>2</sub> emission has been estimated during the most active period of the eruption. The peak of degassing was estimated at 1800 kg s<sup>−1</sup> in the morning of 6~April. The temporal evolution of SO<sub>2</sub> emission presented here can also be used for local studies.