Fluxes, sizes, morphology and compositions of particles in the Mt. Erebus volcanic plume, December 1983

• Published in: Journal of Atmospheric Chemistry
• Main Authors: Chuan, Raymond L., Palais, Julie, Rose, William I., Kyle, Philip R.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Digital Commons @ Michigan Tech 1986
• Subjects: Antarctic aerosol; size distribution; volcanic plume; Earth Sciences; Engineering; Geology; Mining Engineering; Other Engineering; Antarctic; Mount Erebus; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/geo-fp/128; https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00053846

Use of an airborne quartz crystal microbalance cascade impactor instrument together with a correlation spectrometer has allowed the flux of particles and their size distribution to be determined at Mount Erebus. The plume contributes 21±3 metric tomnes/day of aerosol particles to the Antarctic upper troposphere. The aerosol particles consist of larger (5–25 μm) particles of elemental sulfur and silica, a middle sized group of iron oxides and smaller particles (less than 1 μm) of complex liquids. Unlike many volcanic plumes, the Erebus plume has only a small amount of sulfate particles. The concentrations of particles in the Erebus plumes was 70–370 μm/m3. Limited sampling of the Antarctic atmosphere at 8 km altitude but hundreds of km away from Erebus obtained a few large particles of sulfur and silicates, suggesting a similarity with the Erebus plume. The fallout of these particles occurs slowly over a broad area of the Antarctic continent.