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Preprints
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1116
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1116
23 Jun 2023
 | 23 Jun 2023

The 2019 Raikoke eruption as a testbed for rapid assessment of volcanic atmospheric impacts by the Volcano Response group

Jean-Paul Vernier, Thomas Aubry, Claudia Timmreck, Anja Schmidt, Lieven Clarisse, Fred Prata, Nicolas Theys, Andrew Prata, Graham Mann, Hyundeok Choi, Simon Carn, Richard Rigby, Susan Loughlin, and John Stevenson

Abstract. The 21st June 2019 Raikoke eruption (48° N,153° E) generated one of the largest amounts of sulfur emission to the stratosphere since the 1991 Mt Pinatubo eruption. Satellite measurements indicate a consensus best estimate of 1.5 Tg for the sulfur dioxide (SO2) injected at an altitude of around 14–15 km. The peak northern hemisphere mean 525 nm Stratospheric Aerosol Optical Depth (SAOD) increased to 0.025, a factor of three higher than background levels. The Volcano Response (VolRes) initiative provided a platform for the community to share information about this eruption, which significantly enhanced coordination efforts in the days after the eruption. A multi-platform satellite observation sub-group formed to prepare an initial report to present eruption parameters including SO2 emissions and their vertical distribution for the modelling community. It allowed to make the first estimate of what would be the peak in SAOD one week after the eruption using a simple volcanic aerosol model. In this retrospective analysis, we show that revised volcanic SO2 injection profiles yield a higher peak injection of the SO2 mass. This highlights difficulties in accurately representing the vertical distribution for moderate SO2 explosive eruptions in the lowermost stratosphere due to limited vertical sensitivity of current satellite sensors (+/- 2 km accuracy) and low horizontal resolution of lidar observations. We also show that the SO2 lifetime initially assumed in the simple aerosol model was overestimated by 66 %, pointing to challenges for simple models to capture how the life cycle of volcanic gases and aerosols depends on the SO2 injection magnitude, latitude and height. Using revised injection profile, modelling results indicate a peak northern hemisphere monthly mean SAOD at 525 nm of 0.024, in excellent agreement with observations, associated with a global monthly mean radiative forcing of -0.17 W/m2 resulting in an annual global mean surface temperature anomalies of -0.028 K. Given the relatively small magnitude of the forcing, it is unlikely that the surface response can be dissociated from surface temperature variability.

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Journal article(s) based on this preprint

21 May 2024
The 2019 Raikoke eruption as a testbed used by the Volcano Response group for rapid assessment of volcanic atmospheric impacts
Jean-Paul Vernier, Thomas J. Aubry, Claudia Timmreck, Anja Schmidt, Lieven Clarisse, Fred Prata, Nicolas Theys, Andrew T. Prata, Graham Mann, Hyundeok Choi, Simon Carn, Richard Rigby, Susan C. Loughlin, and John A. Stevenson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 5765–5782, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5765-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5765-2024, 2024
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The requested preprint has a corresponding peer-reviewed final revised paper. You are encouraged to refer to the final revised version.

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The 2019 Raikoke eruption (Kamchatka, Russia) generated one of the largest emissions of...
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