A satellite and ash transport model aided approach to assess the radiative impacts of volcanic aerosol in the Arctic

• Main Author: Young, Cindy L.
• Other Authors: Sokolik, Irina N., Dufek, Josef, Curry, Judith A., Huber, Christian, Nenes, Athanasios, Wray, James J., Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Georgia Institute of Technology 2015
• Subjects: Arctic; VATDM; Mt. Redoubt; Fall3D; SNICAR; MODIS; OMI; CALIPSO; SBDART; Alaska; Volcanic eruption; Radiative transfer model; Satellite remote sensing; Ash transport; Volcanic aerosol; Ash deposits; albedo
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1853/53404

The Arctic radiation climate is influenced substantially by anthropogenic and natural aerosols. There have been numerous studies devoted to understanding the radiative impacts of anthropogenic aerosols (e.g. those responsible for producing the Arctic haze phenomenon) and natural aerosols (e.g. dust and smoke) on the Arctic environment, but volcanic aerosols have received less attention. Volcanic eruptions occur frequently in the Arctic and have the capacity to be long duration, high intensity events, expelling large amounts of aerosol-sized ash and gases, which form aerosols once in the atmosphere. Additionally, volcanic eruptions deposit ash, which can alter the surface reflectivity, and remain to influence the radiation balance long after the eruptive plume has passed over and dissipated. The goal of this dissertation is to quantify the radiative effects of volcanic aerosols in the Arctic caused by volcanic plumes and deposits onto ice and snow covered surfaces. The shortwave, longwave, and net direct aerosol radiative forcing efficiencies and atmospheric heating/cooling rates caused by volcanic aerosol from the 2009 eruption of Mt. Redoubt were determined by performing radiative transfer modeling constrained by NASA A-Train satellite data. The optical properties of volcanic aerosol were calculated by introducing a compositionally resolved microphysical model developed for both ash and sulfates. Two compositions of volcanic aerosol were considered in order to examine a fresh, ash rich plume and an older, ash poor plume. The results indicate that environmental conditions, such as surface albedo and solar zenith angle, can influence the sign and the magnitude of the radiative forcing at the top of the atmosphere and at the surface. Environmental conditions can also influence the magnitude of the forcing in the aerosol layer. For instance, a fresh, thin plume with a high solar zenith angle over snow cools the surface and warms the top of the atmosphere, but the opposite effect is seen by the same layer over ...