This is a past event.

Please join this week's Atmospheric Sciences Graduate Student presenter Cece Jin (Geology and Mining Engineering Sciences) for their in-person presentation Monday, April 17th at 4 PM - Fisher Hall 101.

High Cadence DSCOVR/EPIC Observations of SO2 Emissions from the 2021 La Palma Eruption and Comparison with Ground-based Measurements

Cece Jin [Advisors: Dr. Xin Xi/Simon Carn]

Volcanic eruptions release large quantities of gases (including greenhouse gases), aerosol precursors, and ash into the atmosphere. Quantifying the emission fluxes and vertical profiles of volcanic gases and particles is essential to gain insight into volcanic processes and a better understanding of the impacts of volcanic emissions on climate change, air quality, and aviation safety. Since 2015, the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) aboard the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite has been providing novel, high-cadence UV observations of volcanic eruptions from the L1 Earth-Sun Lagrange point, 1 million miles from Earth. Here, we present observations of SO2 (sulfur dioxide) column amounts measured by DSCOVR/EPIC during the Cumbre Vieja eruption on La Palma (Canary Islands, Spain), which began in September 2021 and ended on December 13th, 2021. We compare the EPIC SO2 data with near-coincident SO2 data from the polar-orbiting UV OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument) and OMPS (Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite) instruments. The 2021 Cumbre Vieja eruption provides a rare opportunity to compare as-yet unvalidated EPIC SO2 retrievals with ground-based SO2 observations from two UV Spectrophotometers (Brewer and Pandora) at the Izaña Atmospheric Observatory on nearby Tenerife, relatively close to the eruption source. The high-cadence (hourly) EPIC UV observations of volcanic SO2 offer more opportunities for validation than conventional UV observations from polar-orbiting satellites (e.g., OMI, OMPS), by providing several SO2 column measurements over the course of a day. To improve the comparison with Brewer and Pandora data, we have generated new EPIC SO2 products assuming lower tropospheric SO2 plume altitudes that are appropriate for the La Palma eruption. The La Palma eruption data also demonstrate EPIC’s ability to monitor SO2 emissions from continuous effusive volcanic eruptions with high temporal resolution, providing insight into changing eruption dynamics.