NH2.1
Living with volcanoes: Insights into Volcanic Emissions and their Impacts on the Environment, Climate and Health

NH2.1

EDI
Living with volcanoes: Insights into Volcanic Emissions and their Impacts on the Environment, Climate and Health
Co-organized by GMPV10
Convener: Paraskevi Nomikou | Co-conveners: Giuseppe G. Salerno, Dimitrios Papanikolaou, Pasquale Sellitto
Presentations
| Thu, 26 May, 17:00–18:27 (CEST)
 
Room M2

Presentations: Thu, 26 May | Room M2

Chairperson: Giuseppe G. Salerno
Observations
17:00–17:07
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EGU22-6159
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ECS
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Virtual presentation
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Adrian Jost, Steffen Beirle, Steffen Dörner, Christian Borger, Simon Warnach, Nicole Bobrowski, Christoph Kern, and Thomas Wagner

With a nearly continuously effusive eruption since 1983, the Kilauea volcano (Hawaii, USA) is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. From the beginning of May till the end of August 2018, a sequence of eruptions on the Lower East Rift Zone (LERZ) caused an enhanced outbreak of volcanic gases and aerosols, releasing them into the troposphere. Since these gases and particles affect climate, environment, traffic, and health on regional to global scales, a continuous monitoring of the emission rates is essential.

As satellites provide the opportunity to observe and quantify the emissions remotely from space, their contribution to the monitoring of volcanoes is significant. The TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) onboard the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite was successfully launched by the end of 2017 and provides measurements with unprecedented level of detail at a resolution of 3.5 x 7.0 km2 (3.5 x 5.5 km2 since August 2019). This also allows for an accurate retrieval of trace gas species such as volcanic SO2.  

Here, we show that the location and strength of SO2 emissions from Kilauea can be determined by the divergence of the temporal mean SO2 flux. This approach, which is based on the continuity equation, has been successfully demonstrated for NOX emissions of individual power plants (Beirle et al., Sci. Adv., 2019).

The present state of our work also indicates that emission maps of SO2 can be derived by the combination of satellite measurements and wind fields on high spatial resolution. As the divergence is highly sensitive on point sources like the erupting fissures in the 2018 Kilauea eruption, they can be localized very precisely. The obtained emission rates of about 1.5 Mt are substantially lower than the ones reported from ground-based measurements in other studies like the one from Kern et al. (Bull. Volcanol., 2020). 

We discuss several potential reasons for the discrepancies between the ground- and satellite-based observations like e.g. uncertainties of the air mass factor or possible rapid destruction of SO2 in the presence of clouds.

How to cite: Jost, A., Beirle, S., Dörner, S., Borger, C., Warnach, S., Bobrowski, N., Kern, C., and Wagner, T.: Quantification of SO2 emission rates from the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii by the divergence of the SO2 flux using S5P-TROPOMI satellite measurements and comparison to results from ground-based observations, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-6159, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-6159, 2022.

17:07–17:14
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EGU22-3847
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ECS
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Presentation form not yet defined
Abhinna Behera, Marie Boichu, François Thieuleux, Souichiro Hioki, Lieven Clarisse, Sergey Khaykin, Irène Xueref-Remy, Ioana Popovici, and Philippe Goloub

Volcanic sulphur dioxide (SO2), a precursor of sulphate aerosols, can have a deleterious impact on the atmosphere, ecosystems, and air quality at multiple scales. Knowledge of highly variable volcanic SO2 emissions, i.e., mass flux rates and injection heights, would not only aid comprehension of such atmospheric implications but would also provide information on subterranean volcanological processes of magma transport. Furthermore, volcanic SO2, which frequently co-exists in volcanic plumes with ash and sulphate aerosols, can pose a threat to aviation as ash and acidic aerosols are alarming to aircraft. Therefore, comprehensive knowledge of volcanic SO2 emissions is essential for a thorough evaluation of near-source volcanic hazards and large-scale atmospheric impacts.

Hyper-spectral nadir-viewing UV and infrared satellite instruments record global SO2 mass-loadings on a daily or bi-daily basis. Geostationary sensors, on the other hand, deliver high temporal information on SO2 emissions but with much lower sensitivity. Consequently, there are still gaps in our knowledge of volcanic SO2 emissions and SO2 to sulphate oxidation rates, notably inside tropospheric plumes, and hence volcanic sulphur-rich compound feedback on the atmosphere.

TROPOMI, a hyperspectral UV sensor with increased spatial and spectral resolution than that of the pre-existing UV (OMPS) sensor in the same orbit, was launched in 2017. We discuss how an inverse modelling approach that assimilates TROPOMI SO2 column amounts (CA) improves the retrieval of hourly SO2 emissions when compared to the assimilation of OMPS data acquired at approximately the same time and the new SO2 products (both SO2 CA and layer heights) from IASI. The purpose of using IASI data is to assess the impact of assimilating SO2 data available bi-daily into inverse modelling with additional information on SO2 layer height. The inverse modelling is performed utilizing a time series of daily or bi-daily SO2 CA snapshots from the TROPOMI, OMPS, and IASI satellite instruments, respectively. Contrary to OMPS, which has 50x50 km2 of spatial resolution, and IASI, which has a 12 km circular footprint, TROPOMI has an extraordinary spatial resolution of 5.5x3.5 km2 (7x3.5 km2 before August 2019). We find that because of their sensitivity to low-level SO2 fluxes and thin SO2 plumes, and the numerous SO2-rich pixels defining dense parcels, TROPOMI observations enable better evaluation of SO2 degassing during paroxysmal eruption phases, offering better-resolved SO2 emissions by inverse modelling. However, if meteorological clouds hide the volcanic SO2 plumes, the results can be inconsistent, especially if the clouds are near the source. So the additional data, the SO2 height product from IASI observations, is used to reconcile and offer more robust SO2 emissions. As a second step, we perform inverse modelling using both the SO2 CA and layer heights from IASI. This research investigates the Mount Etna eruption in February 2021, the SO2 plume reaching France, and the 2018 Ambrym eruption, which was the top world-ranking SO2 emitter. In the context of Etna eruption, we use ground-based OHP LIDAR aerosol height measurements to explore the presence of sulphate aerosols and their height in the SO2 plume.

How to cite: Behera, A., Boichu, M., Thieuleux, F., Hioki, S., Clarisse, L., Khaykin, S., Xueref-Remy, I., Popovici, I., and Goloub, P.: Hourly SO2 emissions and plume dispersion simulated by inverse modelling using TROPOMI, OMPS, IASI, and ground-based LIDAR observations: case studies of the 2021 Etna and 2018 Ambrym eruptions, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-3847, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-3847, 2022.

17:14–17:21
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EGU22-4983
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ECS
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Presentation form not yet defined
Simon Warnach, Christian Borger, Nicole Bobrowski, Holger Sihler, Moritz Schöne, Steffen Beirle, Ulrich Platt, and Thomas Wagner

Bromine monoxide (BrO) is a halogen radical capable of influencing atmospheric chemical processes, in particular the abundance of ozone, e. g. in the polar boundary layer and above salt lakes, in the stratosphere as well as in volcanic plumes. Furthermore, the molar bromine to sulphur ratio in volcanic gas emissions is a proxy for the magmatic composition of a volcano and potentially an eruption forecast parameter.

To monitor volcanic activities on global scale, satellite measurements provide invaluable information. For these purposes, the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) onboard ESA’s S5-P satellite is particularly interesting: its high spatial resolution of up to 3.5x5.5km2 and daily global coverage offer great potential to detect BrO and its corresponding ratio with sulphur dioxide (BrO/SO2) even during minor eruptions and for continuous passive degassing volcanoes.

Here, we present a global overview of BrO/SO2 molar ratios in volcanic plumes derived from a systematic long-term investigation covering four years (Januar 2018 to December 2021) of TROPOMI data.

We retrieved column densities of BrO and SO2 using Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS) and calculated mean BrO/SO2 molar ratios for various volcanoes. The calculated BrO/SO2 molar ratios differ strongly between different volcanoes, but also between measurements at one volcano at different points in time, ranging from several 10-5 up to several 10-4. In our four-year study of S5P/TROPOMI data we successfully recorded elevated BrO column densities at 506 volcanic events. We were able to derive significant BrO/SO2 ratios at 26 different volcanoes on 378 occasions, thus adding an important volcanic parameter to these volcanoes.

In addition, this large data set of events allows to deduce time-series of several very active volcanoes, such as Mount Etna, Italy and Ambrym, Vanuatu.

How to cite: Warnach, S., Borger, C., Bobrowski, N., Sihler, H., Schöne, M., Beirle, S., Platt, U., and Wagner, T.: A global perspective on Bromine monoxide composition in volcanic plumes derived from S5-P/TROPOMI, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-4983, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-4983, 2022.

17:21–17:28
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EGU22-11029
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ECS
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On-site presentation
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Sara Sayyadi, Magnús T Gudmundsson, James D.H. White, Thorsteinn Jónsson, and Marie D Jackson

Submarine volcanic activity was observed in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago off the south coast of Iceland in November 1963, at a location where the pre-eruption oceanic depth was 130 m.  The eruption continued until July 1967. As a result of the eruption, a volcanic island, Surtsey, and its short-lived satellite islands (Surtla, Syrtlingur, and Jólnir) were created.  The progression of the eruption was very well documented at the time.  However, data on structures below sea level has been limited to drillholes on the rim of the Surtur crater on the main Surtsey island.  In order to study the existence and possible location of pillow lava from the initial phases of the eruption and shallow intrusions within and below the edifices formed in 1963-1967, a six-hour-long aeromagnetic survey was completed in October 2021 over the Surtsey area. The survey is done using a Geometrics MagArrow drone magnetometer, here adapted for operation while fixed to an aircraft. The survey covered 60 km2.  The spacing between profiles was 200 m and the flight elevation 100 m a.s.l. The MagArrow has a sampling frequency of 1000 Hz, which for an aircraft flying at 50 m/s gives a reading every 5 cm. To remove noise and perturbations from the aircraft, the data is low-pass filtered in two steps, firstly by averaging 50 measurements providing 20 Hz data, then by applying low pass filter with a cutoff frequency of 0.225 Hz, removing wavelengths smaller than 200-250m.  Initial data processing indicates some variations in the sources to the anomalies observed.  Major anomalies arise from the subaerial lavas on Surtsey itself, while the submarine remnants of the island Syrtlingur, active in 1965, show no anomalies.  This suggests that it is exclusively made of tuffs with no significant intrusions, similar to the structure of Surtsey itself below sea floor according to the drill cores obtained in 1979 and 2017.  In contrast, a clear anomaly is observed over the submarine remnants of the satellite island Jólnir, which was formed over several months in 1966. Apparently, this anomaly can only be explained by a magnetic body located no deeper than at 100 m depth below the seafloor at the eastern part of Jólnir, the same location as the vent active in 1966. 

How to cite: Sayyadi, S., Gudmundsson, M. T., White, J. D. H., Jónsson, T., and Jackson, M. D.: An aeromagnetic survey over the volcanic island of Surtsey off the south coast of Iceland, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-11029, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-11029, 2022.

17:28–17:35
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EGU22-12606
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Virtual presentation
Maria Luisa Carapezza, Detlef Amend, Christian Fisher, Lucia Pruiti, Massimo Ranaldi, Luca Tarchini, and Konradin Weber

La Fossa volcano, located in the Vulcano Island of the Aeolian Archipelago, is the type locality of Vulcanian explosive eruptions. It last erupted in 1888-1890 and since then it is affected by an intense fumarolic activity from both the summit crater area and a hydrothermal site (Levante Beach) located very near to the main settlement of the island (Vulcano Porto). In Autumn 2021 a potential volcanic unrest crisis began with a strong increase of steam, CO2 and SO2 emission from the high-T crater fumaroles, ground uplift and episodic anomalous seismicity. Vulcano Porto inhabited area is exposed to gas hazard either from the wind dispersed crater fumarolic plume (mostly CO2 and SO2) and from anomalous diffuse soil gas emissions in Levante Beach and other zones of Vulcano Porto village (mostly CO2 and eventually H2S). The gas hazard of the village was considered so high that in December 2021 Civil Protection prohibited residents to stay at home during the night. In order to improve the monitoring of gas hazard we developed new stations continuously measuring the air concentration of CO2 and SO2. Each of these stations is operating with an electrochemical sensor for the measurement of SO2 and a photoacoustic sensor for the measurement of CO2. Moreover, atmospheric pressure, temperature and humidity are monitored in parallel to the gas measurements. The measured data are sent continuously via mobile data connection to a dedicated server. By this means the measured parameters can be monitored remotely, without the need to access the site personally. Three stations were installed (at 1 m from the ground) in mid-December 2021 in three sites of Vulcano Porto; two of them were located at the base of La Fossa cone in the sector most exposed to the crater gas plume, while a third station was located in the heart of the village, near the church. Results show that CO2 exceeds of few hundreds ppm the normal air value of 400 ppm in all the stations. In some occasions, during night in absence of wind or with light wind blowing from SW, some peaks of both CO2 and SO2 were recorded in all the stations (CO2 max 1500 ppm; SO2 max 2 ppm). Additionally a future server sided extension to our system is planned, which integrates an early warning system, that can send email alerts, if certain thresholds are exceeded.

How to cite: Carapezza, M. L., Amend, D., Fisher, C., Pruiti, L., Ranaldi, M., Tarchini, L., and Weber, K.: New stations to monitor gas hazard in the ongoing volcanic unrest crisis of La Fossa volcano (Vulcano Island, Italy), EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-12606, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-12606, 2022.

Modelling
17:35–17:42
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EGU22-13498
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Highlight
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On-site presentation
Zachary McGraw, Kevin Dallasanta, Lorenzo Polvani, Kostas Tsigaridis, Clara Orbe, and Susanne Bauer

Abstract: Volcanic aerosols can cool Earth’s surface on a global scale, with the largest eruptions (eg Toba 74kya) linked to especially severe impacts on ecosystems and human survival. However, global climate simulations of super-eruption impacts have disagreed widely on post-eruption temperatures. As no super-eruption has occurred in ~26,000 years, little is known of their aerosol byproducts other than mass estimates from ice cores. Here we use GISS ModelE climate simulations to demonstrate that unconstrained aerosol properties cause substantial radiative forcing uncertainty. By comparing ModelE sensitivity tests to previous modeling studies, we suggest that a lack of consensus on super-eruption aerosol properties is a major reason for the disagreement in post-eruption cooling.

How to cite: McGraw, Z., Dallasanta, K., Polvani, L., Tsigaridis, K., Orbe, C., and Bauer, S.: Aerosol properties crucial to reconciling supervolcanic cooling estimates, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-13498, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-13498, 2022.

17:42–17:52
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EGU22-2882
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ECS
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solicited
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Highlight
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On-site presentation
Jonas Kuhn, Nicole Bobrowski, and Ulrich Platt

Magmatic gases that reach Earth’s surface are among the scarce sources of information on the planet’s interior. Their composition is dominated by H2O, CO2, and sulfur species and largely differs from that of today’s atmosphere of the Earth, particularly, by the amounts of oxygen. When magmatic gases are emitted directly to the atmosphere (e.g. at lava lakes), the process is further characterised by huge temperature gradients (hundreds to more than a thousand K per metre). The rapid cooling and fast mixing with atmospheric oxygen defines an early phase in the lifetime of a volcanic plume, which can crucially influence the plume’s later composition. Few attempts have been made to include the often extreme dynamics of this early plume phase into the scope of volcanic gas studies.

Naturally, magmatic degassing processes are difficult to study and thus bound to large uncertainties in crucial parameters, such as gas temperature, gas composition, and mixing. Further, heterogeneous processes involving ash and aerosols might have a strong impact on the processes.

We developed a model to study the C-H-O-S gas phase reaction kinetics of the first seconds of a volcanic gas emission. The entire cooling process of the volcanic gases is covered and studied considering its dynamics and regarding large ranges of mixing scenarios, gas compositions and emission temperatures.

We find that many major processes are far from (the often assumed) thermal equilibrium (TE). Particularly, large amounts of HOX (OH + HO2), exceeding TE by orders of magnitude, form at high temperature as soon as sufficient O2 entered the plume. High OH levels lead to rapid oxidation of emitted species, such as CO, H2, and SO2. Strikingly, CO levels can be both, reduced and enhanced by high temperature processing, depending on the assumed initial conditions. Moreover, we observe that the enthalpy change associated with the chemical conversions can lead to a significant net heating of the plume.

Overall, and despite of the simplifications made, our model indicates a major influence of the dynamics within the interface between magma and the atmosphere (i.e. the early volcanic plume). The composition of gas samples that interacted only a tenth of a second with the atmosphere might substantially differ from the magmatic gas composition. This would lead to enhanced uncertainties in the quantification of magmatic parameters (such as temperature and redox state), when derived from measurements of gas ratios in the volcanic plume. 

How to cite: Kuhn, J., Bobrowski, N., and Platt, U.: The interface between magma and Earth’s atmosphere and its influence on the gas composition of volcanic plumes, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-2882, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-2882, 2022.

17:52–17:59
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EGU22-8731
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ECS
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Presentation form not yet defined
Philip Kwame Quainoo, Nick Petford, Stefan Kaczmarczyk, and Mark Thomas

Explosive volcanic eruptions are risk to human population, buildings, and infrastructure. One consequence of volcanic ash in the built environment, as seen graphically during the recent (2021) St. Vincent and La Palma eruptions, is that it collects on roofs, sometimes overtopping the host building completely. If enough ash collects then the weight on the roof can cause collapse, damaging the structure and endanger people. While it is known that snow loading of roofs is a hazard and is regulated for in EN 1991 Eurocode 1, no guidance currently exists in the Eurocodes for volcanic ash deposition, although during prolonged eruptions loading impact from ash can exceed structural guidelines and recommended safety criteria for exceptional snow loads. One of the main reasons for lack of including is data availability. For snow load calculations the Eurocodes can draw on approximately 2600 weather station that are constantly monitored. Volcanic eruptions are significantly less frequent.  To remedy this, we present a computer-based mathematical model for testing stress and deformation levels due to volcanic ash deposition on flat concrete roofs. The mathematical model can take account of variable factors. Using computer models, we can assess the interactions of many variables simultaneously, without the need to perform complex physical experiments. Results show that the stress on concrete roofs due to the weight of accumulating ash can exceed the safety requirements set out in EN1991 Eurocode 1. While more research is needed, our results shows the need to revise the current codes for the built environment in volcanic prone areas of Europe.

How to cite: Quainoo, P. K., Petford, N., Kaczmarczyk, S., and Thomas, M.: Modelling the effects of volcanic ash on the strength and likely collapse of concrete roofs: implications for EU Building Code EN1991., EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-8731, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-8731, 2022.

Impacts
17:59–18:06
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EGU22-5832
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ECS
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On-site presentation
Elena Maters, Johannes de Leeuw, Frances Beckett, Alberto Sanchez-Marroquin, Claire Witham, Benjamin Murray, Kenneth Carslaw, and Anja Schmidt

Volcanic ash can act as ice-nucleating particles (INPs), which by triggering freezing of supercooled water droplets in the atmosphere, can profoundly influence clouds and thereby climate [1]. Volcanoes worldwide sporadically emit large amounts of ash into the atmosphere including at middle to high latitudes (30-90° N/S) where, importantly, other major types of INPs such as windblown Saharan dust from low latitudes are less abundant. A recent study found that windblown Icelandic dust of volcanic and glacio-fluvial origin could episodically dominate INP concentrations between 3 to 5.5 km above sea level over the North Atlantic and Arctic [2]. However, it remains unexplored how volcanic ash emissions from explosive eruptions, which typically occur every 3 to 5 years in Iceland, affect INP concentrations in these regions. Here we investigated the Eyjafjallajökull eruption from 14 April to 22 May 2010 and Eyjafjallajökull ash resuspension events (by wind) thereafter as sources of INPs to the atmosphere. Specifically, by combining ash concentration and temperature data from Lagrangian particle dispersion model simulations (Numerical Atmospheric dispersion Modelling Environment [3]) with a laboratory-derived parameterisation of the ice-nucleating activity of this ash [2,4-5], we calculated INP concentrations up to 10 km above sea level across the Northern Hemisphere during and following the Eyjafjallajökull eruption. In late April 2010, the erupted ash produced INP concentrations >0.01 L-1 (potentially capable of affecting cloud liquid water content) in up to ~14 vol% of air masses at temperatures between 0 and -35 °C and latitudes between 45 and 90° N. In contrast, the contribution of resuspended ash to the atmospheric INP population in subsequent months was up to several orders of magnitude smaller, partly because resuspended ash particles more seldomly reached altitudes where temperatures were low enough for ice nucleation. Findings of this case study and perspectives on further integrating model and laboratory data to improve understanding of the impacts of volcanic ash on clouds and climate will be discussed.

[1] Murray, B. J., Carslaw, K. S, Field, P. R. (2021) Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 21, 665-679, doi:10.5194/acp-21-665-2021.

[2] Sanchez-Marroquin, A., Arnalds, O., Baustian-Dorsi, K. J., Browse, J., Dagsson-Waldhauserova, P., Harrison, A. D., Maters, E. C., Pringle, K. J., Vergara-Temprado, J., Burke, I. T., McQuaid, J. B., Carslaw, K. S., Murray, B. J. (2020) Science Advances, 6, eaba8137, doi:10.1126/sciadv.aba8137.

[3] Jones, A., Thomson, D., Hort, M., Devenish, B. (2007) In: Borrego, C., Norman, A.-L. (Eds) Air Pollution Modelling and its Application XVII, Springer, Boston, 580-589, doi:10.1007/978-0-387-68854-1_62

[4] Hoyle, C. R., Pinti, V., Welti, A., Zobrist, B., Marcolli, C., Luo, B., Höskuldsson, Á., Mattsson, H. B., Stetzer, O., Thorsteinsson, T., Larsen, G., Peter, T. (2011) Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 11, 9911-9926, doi:10.5194/acp-11-9911-2011.

[5] Steinke, I., Möhler, O., Kiselev, A., Niemand, M., Saathoff, H., Schnaiter, M., Skrotzki, J., Hoose, C., Leisner, T. (2011) Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 11, 12945-12958, doi:10.5194/acp-11-12945-2011.

How to cite: Maters, E., de Leeuw, J., Beckett, F., Sanchez-Marroquin, A., Witham, C., Murray, B., Carslaw, K., and Schmidt, A.: Impacts of erupted and resuspended volcanic ash from the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption, Iceland, on atmospheric ice-nucleating particle concentrations, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-5832, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-5832, 2022.

18:06–18:13
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EGU22-12949
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Presentation form not yet defined
Claudia Troise, Giuseppe De Natale, Renato Somma, Massimo Buscema, Guido Maurelli, Adriano Giannola, and Stefano Petrazzuoli

The Neapolitan volcanic area is by far the highest volcanic risk one in the World, due to the presence of three active volcanic areas (Vesuvius, Campi Flegrei, Ischia) with an extreme population density: three millions people live within 20 km from a possible volcanic vent. Volcanic risk in these areas is strictly associated to seismic risk, and to other secondary risks as landslides and flooding.

The mitigation of such an extreme risk can only be afforded by considering volcanological, as well as economical, urbanistic  and social issues. All these highly multidisciplinary aspects must be jointly recognized and shared by both volcanologists and decision makers, in a global, effective risk reduction policy.

We start considering the very high number of people living in the ‘red zones’ (the most risky areas, in terms of the actual emergency plans) of Vesuvius and Campi Flegrei, and the economic losses linked to a complete evacuation of these areas. We then demonstrate, from volcanological considerations, that evacuated people could not come back in the red zones in short times, but rather after years or decades, perhaps never again.From such basic considerations, we proceed to propose a multidisciplinary, effective mitigation strategy and emergency planning, which can significantly decrease the volcanic and associated risks in the area and to make effectively feasible and sustainable an evacuation, in case of high probability for an impending eruption. The proposed strategy also uses the most advanced Artificial Intelligence methodologies to plan an optimal, complete relocation of the population living in the most risky areas, in case of sudden as well as progressive evacuation. In addition, our mitigation strategy takes into account other key demographic and economic issues: problems affecting several internal areas of Southern Italy, which can help to handle the problem of risk mitigation, and to possibly jointly solve them.

How to cite: Troise, C., De Natale, G., Somma, R., Buscema, M., Maurelli, G., Giannola, A., and Petrazzuoli, S.: Mitigating the highest volcanic risk in the World: a multidisciplinary strategy for the Neapolitan area, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-12949, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-12949, 2022.

18:13–18:20
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EGU22-8057
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ECS
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Virtual presentation
William Hernández, Javier Dóniz, Pedro A. Hernández, and Nemesio M. Pérez

Tourism is one of the economic activities of reference throughout the world despite the consequences of SARS-CoV-2. Within the new tourism products, geotourism is a relatively new modality and alternative to mass tourism in mature destinations. One example of this is the creation and rise of the global and European networks of geoparks. In the case of the Canary Islands, this fact can also be seen in the increase in tourist activities related to volcano tourism as an alternative product to sun and beach tourism. In this sense, the main objective of this study is to identify, inventory, select, characterize and evaluate geomorphosites with geotouristic interest on the Canary Island of La Palma following the methodology proposed by Reynard et al (2007 and 2017), based on the evaluation of scientific and added values. A total of 47 geomorphosites of geotourism interest (Ligts) that host the geodiversity of volcanic and non-volcanic forms and processes of La Palma have been studied. The main results after applying the assessment is that the scientific values ​​(0.53) are above the added values ​​(0.43). Among the first, the paleogeographic interest stands out (0.61) and of the added ones, that of the protection of the site (0.71). All these evaluations show that the geomorphological sites studied are representative of the natural and cultural heritage of La Palma, but also that they are conserved, protected and that they contribute to explain the geological and geomorphological evolution of the island. These aspects are essential to be able in the future to propose itineraries or georoutes of volcano tourist interest.

How to cite: Hernández, W., Dóniz, J., Hernández, P. A., and Pérez, N. M.: Volcanic geomorphosites, places of geotouristic interest and geo-routes in La Palma (Canary, Spain), EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-8057, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-8057, 2022.

18:20–18:27
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EGU22-11513
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On-site presentation
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Nia Schamuells, Adelina Geyer, Meritxell Aulinas, Olaya Dorado, Joaquin Hopfenblatt, and Joan Martí

Earth Science studies usually get less attention compared to other basic sciences, especially at teen ages. This is a pressing problem, which worsens considerably in those countries in which the primary and secondary educational systems regularly minimize or unbalance the presence of Earth Sciences in front of other branches of knowledge such as Biology or Physics. Child interests usually develop during young ages, and this will influence the interest of future generations on the understanding of our planet and the environment.  In this sense, the creation of engaging educational tools and resources that captivate the younger audience is one of the current challenges. More and more, comic books, graphic novels and illustrated children’s books are becoming a powerful tool to approach scientific concepts to kids and teenagers. Here we present the digital book: “Discover the volcanoes: Accompany the Volkis to their volcanic adventure”. A creative way to explain to a child and teen audience, how volcanoes work, as well as their impacts and benefits to our society. The leading characters are the Volkis, a secret club for volcano lovers that learn different aspects related to volcanology thanks to Rocky, the most experienced member of the group.  The book is composed of 13 sections covering the essential information needed to learn about volcanology. Where and why do we have volcanoes on Earth? How is the interior of a volcano? Why do volcanoes erupt? Which are the hazards derived from a volcanic eruption? are just some of the questions that are resolved in it. The Volkis, fantastic characters that represent different volcanic products, will guide young readers and instructors on their journey through the world of volcanoes. The book will be downloadable for free and  accompanied by a webpage (https://descubrelosvolcanes.es) where teachers, educators and readers can find additional material such as videos, coloring pages, experiments, etc.  The final aim of this book is to break the paradigms of how to teach science to children in an entertaining, striking, and didactic way, where not only children will learn, but also all adults who are accompanying them.

This project was funded by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) in its program “Cuenta la Ciencia – 4ª Edición” (Fundación General del CSIC) for promoting scientific culture. 

How to cite: Schamuells, N., Geyer, A., Aulinas, M., Dorado, O., Hopfenblatt, J., and Martí, J.: The Volkis’ adventure: the perfect combination of science and creative illustration, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-11513, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-11513, 2022.