Inverse Modeling of the Initial Stage of the 1991 Pinatubo Volcanic Cloud Accounting for Radiative Feedback of Volcanic Ash

Abstract

Verbatim from NASA NTRS. Not paraphrased, not summarized.

The way volcanic clouds evolve is very sensitive to the initial spatial 3D distributions of volcanic materials, which are often unknown. In this study, we conducted inverse modeling of the Mt. Pinatubo cloud using TOMS 2D mapping of Aerosol Index and SO₂ loading during the first three post-eruption days to estimate the time-dependent emissions profiles and initial 3D spatial distributions of volcanic ash and SO₂. We account for aerosol radiative feedback and dynamic lofting of volcanic ash in the inversion calculations for the first time. This resulted in a lower ash injection height (by 1.5 km for ash) than without ash radiative feedback. The Pinatubo eruption ejected ≈77% of fine ash at 12 to 23 km, ≈65% of SO₂ at 18–25 km. In contrast with previous studies, which suggested that all volcanic materials were emitted above the tropopause, a significant fraction of SO₂ (5.1 of 15.5 Mt) and fine ash (37.2 of 66.5 Mt) were ejected in the troposphere, where SO₂ quickly oxidized into sulfate aerosol that is short-lived in the troposphere. This explains the early presence of sulfate aerosols in the plume and why the models can reproduce the observed volcanic aerosols' optical depth (AOD), assuming lower-than-observed SO₂ emission in the stratosphere. Despite the quicker than in observations build-up of sulfate AOD, in a month after the eruption, the evolution of the Pinatubo AOD simulated using the obtained ash and SO₂ initial distributions converges with the available stratospheric aerosol and gas experiment (SAGE) observations.

Authors

• A. Ukhov King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
• G. Stenchikov King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
• S. Osipov Max Planck Institute for Chemistry
• Nickolay Krotkov Goddard Space Flight Center
• N. Gorkavyi Science Systems and Applications (United States)
• Can Li University of Maryland, Baltimore County
• O. Dubovik University of Lille
• A. Lopatin GRASP SAS

Keywords

• Pinatubo volcanic ash and SO2 emissions