Dispersion modelling of volcanic emissions

Sammanfattning: Gases and particles released by volcanoes pose a serious hazard to humans and society. Emissions can be transported over long distances before being reduced to harmless concentrations. Knowing which areas are, or will be, exposed to volcanic emissions is an important part inreducing the impact on human health and society. In this thesis, the dispersion of volcanic emissions is studied using a set of atmospheric models.The work includes contribution to the development of the Lagrangian Particle Dispersion Model FLEXPART-WRF. Three case studies have been performed, one studying potential ash emissions from potential future eruptions on Iceland, a second covering SO2 emissions from Mt. Nyiragongo in D.R. Congo, and a third studying the SO2 emission rate of the Holuhraun eruption (Iceland) in 2014–2015.The first study covers volcanic ash hazard for air traffic over Europe. Three years of meteorological data are used to repeatedly simulate dispersion from different eruption scenarios. The simulations are used to study the probability of hazardous concentrations in ash in European airspace. The ash hazard shows a seasonal variation with a higher probability of efficient eastward transport in winter, while summer eruptions pose a more persistent hazard.In the second study, regional gas exposure around Mt. Nyiragongo is modelled using flux measurements to improve the description of the emission source. Gases are generally transported to the north-west in June–August and to the south-west in December–January. A diurnal variation due to land breeze around lake Kivu contributes to high concentrations of SO2 along the northern shore during the night. Potentially hazardous concentrations are occasionally reached in populated areas in the region, but mainly during the nights.The third study uses inverse dispersion modelling to determine the height and emission rates based on traverse measurements of the plume at 80–240 km from the source. The calculated source term yields better agreement with satellite observations compared to commonly used column sources.The work in this thesis presents improvements in dispersion modelling of volcanic emissions through improved models, more accurate representation of the source terms, and through incorporating new types of measurements into the modelling systems.