| 1. |
- Rauthe-Schoech, A., et al.
(author)
-
CARIBIC aircraft measurements of Eyjafjallajokull volcanic clouds in April/May 2010
- 2012
-
In: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7324. ; 12:2, s. 879-902
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Civil Aircraft for the Regular Investigation of the Atmosphere Based on an Instrument Container (CARIBIC) project investigates physical and chemical processes in the Earth's atmosphere using a Lufthansa Airbus long-distance passenger aircraft. After the beginning of the explosive eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano on Iceland on 14 April 2010, the first CARIBIC volcano-specific measurement flight was carried out over the Baltic Sea and Southern Sweden on 20 April. Two more flights followed: one over Ireland and the Irish Sea on 16 May and the other over the Norwegian Sea on 19 May 2010. During these three special mission flights the CARIBIC container proved its merits as a comprehensive flying laboratory. The elemental composition of particles collected over the Baltic Sea during the first flight (20 April) indicated the presence of volcanic ash. Over Northern Ireland and the Irish Sea (16 May), the DOAS system detected SO2 and BrO co-located with volcanic ash particles that increased the aerosol optical depth. Over the Norwegian Sea (19 May), the optical particle counter detected a strong increase of particles larger than 400 nm diameter in a region where ash clouds were predicted by aerosol dispersion models. Aerosol particle samples collected over the Irish Sea and the Norwegian Sea showed large relative enhancements of the elements silicon, iron, titanium and calcium. Non-methane hydrocarbon concentrations in whole air samples collected on 16 and 19 May 2010 showed a pattern of removal of several hydrocarbons that is typical for chlorine chemistry in the volcanic clouds. Comparisons of measured ash concentrations and simulations with the FLEXPART dispersion model demonstrate the difficulty of detailed volcanic ash dispersion modelling due to the large variability of the volcanic cloud sources, extent and patchiness as well as the thin ash layers formed in the volcanic clouds.
|
|
| 2. |
- Heue, K-P, et al.
(author)
-
SO2 and BrO observation in the plume of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano 2010: CARIBIC and GOME-2 retrievals
- 2011
-
In: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7324. ; 11:6, s. 2973-2989
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The ash cloud of the Eyjafjallajokull (also referred to as: Eyjafjalla (e.g. Schumann et al., 2011), Eyjafjoll or Eyjafjoll (e.g. Ansmann et al., 2010)) volcano on Iceland caused closure of large parts of European airspace in April and May 2010. For the validation and improvement of the European volcanic ash forecast models several research flights were performed. Also the CARIBIC (Civil Aircraft for the Regular Investigation of the atmosphere Based on an Instrument Container) flying laboratory, which routinely measures at cruise altitude (approximate to 11 km) performed three dedicated measurements flights through sections of the ash plume. Although the focus of these flights was on the detection and quantification of the volcanic ash, we report here on sulphur dioxide (SO2) and bromine monoxide (BrO) measurements with the CARIBIC DOAS (Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy) instrument during the second of these special flights on 16 May 2010. As the BrO and the SO2 observations coincide, we assume the BrO to have been formed inside the volcanic plume. Average SO2 and BrO mixing ratios of approximate to 40 ppb and approximate to 5 ppt respectively are retrieved inside the plume. The BrO to SO2 ratio retrieved from the CARIBIC observation is approximate to 1.3x10(-4). Both SO2 and BrO observations agree well with simultaneous satellite (GOME-2) observations. SO2 column densities retrieved from satellite observations are often used as an indicator for volcanic ash. As the CARIBIC O-4 column densities changed rapidly during the plume observation, we conclude that the aerosol and the SO2 plume are collocated. For SO2 some additional information on the local distribution can be derived from a comparison of forward and back scan GOME-2 data. More details on the local plume size and position are retrieved by combining CARIBIC and GOME-2 data.
|
|
| 3. |
- Andersson, Sandra, et al.
(author)
-
Composition and evolution of volcanic aerosol from eruptions of Kasatochi, Sarychev and Eyjafjallajokull in 2008-2010 based on CARIBIC observations
- 2013
-
In: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7324. ; 13:4, s. 1781-1796
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Large volcanic eruptions impact significantly on climate and lead to ozone depletion due to injection of particles and gases into the stratosphere where their residence times are long. In this the composition of volcanic aerosol is an important but inadequately studied factor. Samples of volcanically influenced aerosol were collected following the Kasatochi (Alaska), Sarychev (Russia) and also during the Eyjafjallajokull (Iceland) eruptions in the period 2008-2010. Sampling was conducted by the CARIBIC platform during regular flights at an altitude of 10-12 km as well as during dedicated flights through the volcanic clouds from the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull in spring 2010. Elemental concentrations of the collected aerosol were obtained by accelerator-based analysis. Aerosol from the Eyjafjallajokull volcanic clouds was identified by high concentrations of sulphur and elements pointing to crustal origin, and confirmed by trajectory analysis. Signatures of volcanic influence were also used to detect volcanic aerosol in stratospheric samples collected following the Sarychev and Kasatochi eruptions. In total it was possible to identify 17 relevant samples collected between 1 and more than 100 days following the eruptions studied. The volcanically influenced aerosol mainly consisted of ash, sulphate and included a carbonaceous component. Samples collected in the volcanic cloud from Eyjafjallajokull were dominated by the ash and sulphate component (similar to 45% each) while samples collected in the tropopause region and LMS mainly consisted of sulphate (50-77%) and carbon (21-43%). These fractions were increasing/decreasing with the age of the aerosol. Because of the long observation period, it was possible to analyze the evolution of the relationship between the ash and sulphate components of the volcanic aerosol. From this analysis the residence time (1/e) of sulphur dioxide in the studied volcanic cloud was estimated to be 45 +/- 22 days.
|
|
| 4. |
- Martinsson, Bengt, et al.
(author)
-
Comparison between CARIBIC Aerosol Samples Analysed by Accelerator-Based Methods and Optical Particle Counter Measurements
- 2014
-
In: Atmospheric Measurement Techniques. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1867-1381 .- 1867-8548. ; 7:8, s. 2581-2596
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Inter-comparison of results from two kinds of aerosol systems in the CARIBIC (Civil Aircraft for the Regular Investigation of the atmosphere Based on a Instrument Container) passenger aircraft based observatory, operating during intercontinental flights at 9-12 km altitude, is presented. Aerosol from the lowermost stratosphere (LMS), the extra-tropical upper troposphere (UT) and the tropical mid troposphere (MT) were investigated. Aerosol particle volume concentration measured with an optical particle counter (OPC) is compared with analytical results of the sum of masses of all major and several minor constituents from aerosol samples collected with an impactor. Analyses were undertaken with the following accelerator-based methods: particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE) and particle elastic scattering analysis (PESA). Data from 48 flights during 1 year are used, leading to a total of 106 individual comparisons. The ratios of the particle volume from the OPC and the total mass from the analyses were in 84% within a relatively narrow interval. Data points outside this interval are connected with inlet-related effects in clouds, large variability in aerosol composition, particle size distribution effects and some cases of non-ideal sampling. Overall, the comparison of these two CARIBIC measurements based on vastly different methods show good agreement, implying that the chemical and size information can be combined in studies of the MT/UT/LMS aerosol.
|
|
| 5. |
- Slemr, F., et al.
(author)
-
CARIBIC observations of gaseous mercury in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere
- 2013
-
In: Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Heavy Metals in the Environment. - : EDP Sciences. - 2100-014X. ; 1
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A unique set of gaseous mercury measurements in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UT/LS) has been obtained during the monthly CARIBIC (www.caribic-atmospheric.com) flights since May 2005. The passenger Airbus 340-600 of Lufthansa covered routes to the Far East, North America, India, and the southern hemisphere. The accompanying measurements of CO, O3, NOy, H2O, aerosols, halocarbons, hydrocarbons, greenhouse gases, and several other parameters as well as backward trajectories enable a detailed analysis of these measurements. Speciation tests have shown that the CARIBIC measurements represent a good approximation of total gaseous mercury (TGM) concentrations. Above the tropopause TGM always decrease with increasing potential vorticity (PV) and O3 which implies its conversion to particle bound mercury. The observation of the lowest TGM concentrations at the highest particle concentrations in the stratosphere provides further evidence for such conversion. We will show how a seasonally dependent conversion rate could be derived using concomitantly measured SF6 mixing ratios as a timer. Tropospheric mercury data suggest the existence of a decreasing trend in the northern hemisphere whose size is comparable with the trend derived from long-term measurements by ship cruises, at Cape Point (South Africa) and Mace Head (Ireland).
|
|
| 6. |
- Heue, K. -P., et al.
(author)
-
Observations of the 2008 Kasatochi volcanic SO2 plume by CARIBIC aircraft DOAS and the GOME-2 satellite
- 2010
-
In: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7324. ; 10:10, s. 4699-4713
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The 2008 Kasatochi volcanic eruption emitted 1.5-2.5 Tg SO2 into the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. Parts of the main volcanic plume (gases and particles) reached central Europe a week after the eruption and were detected there by the CARIBIC (Civil Aircraft for Regular investigation of the Atmosphere based on an Instrument Container) flying observatory. The plume was also observed by the GOME-2 satellite instrument, only a few hours after the CARIBIC aircraft had crossed the plume, thus giving a unique opportunity to compare results. Trajectories and local wind speeds are investigated in detail using the GOME-2 and CARIBIC observations for better comparison of the results from these two observational systems. A comparison of the satellite spatial pattern with the local observations of the wind speed and the trajectory model TRAJKS showed a slight discrepancy, which has to be considered for satellite validation. Hence, it appears that detailed analyses of wind speeds are required. Emitted and secondary particles, partly measured and sampled by the CARIBIC in situ instruments, affected the DOAS SO2 measurements, of both CARIBIC and GOME-2. Overall GOME-2 and the CARIBIC SO2 measurements agree very well. The major uncertainties remain the actual wind speed needed to properly correct for the advection of the plume between the different overpass times and effects of aerosols on DOAS retrievals. The good agreement can be seen as validation for both GOME-2 and CARIBIC DOAS observations.
|
|
