Two weather radar time series of the altitude of the volcanic plume during the May 2011 eruption of Grímsvötn, Iceland

• Published in: Earth System Science Data
• Main Authors: Petersen, G. N., Bjornsson, H., Arason, P., Löwis, S.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: Keflavík; Keflavík International Airport; Iceland
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-4-121-2012; https://essd.copernicus.org/articles/4/121/2012/

The eruption of Grímsvötn volcano in Iceland in 2011 lasted for a week, 21–28 May. The eruption was explosive and peaked during the first hours, with the eruption plume reaching 20–25 km altitude. The height of the plume was monitored every 5 min with a C-band weather radar located at Keflavík International Airport and a mobile X-band radar, 257 km and 75 km distance from the volcano respectively. In addition, photographs taken during the first half-hour of the eruption give information regarding the initial rise. Time series of the plume-top altitude were constructed from the radar observations. This paper presents the two independent radar time series. The series have been cross validated and there is a good agreement between them. The echo top radar series of the altitude of the volcanic plume are publicly available from the Pangaea Data Publisher ( doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.778390 ).