The development of volcanic ash cloud layers over hours to days due to atmospheric turbulence layering
Volcanic ash clouds often become multilayered and thin with distance from the vent. We explore one mechanism for the development of this layered structure. We review data on the characteristics of turbulence layering in the free atmosphere, as well as examples of observations of layered clouds both...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/151855 |
| _version_ | 1824455466568122368 |
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| author | Bursik, Marcus Yang, Qingyuan Bear-Crozier, Adele Pavolonis, Michael Tupper, Andrew |
| author2 | Asian School of the Environment |
| author_facet | Asian School of the Environment Bursik, Marcus Yang, Qingyuan Bear-Crozier, Adele Pavolonis, Michael Tupper, Andrew |
| author_sort | Bursik, Marcus |
| collection | NTU |
| description | Volcanic ash clouds often become multilayered and thin with distance from the vent. We explore one mechanism for the development of this layered structure. We review data on the characteristics of turbulence layering in the free atmosphere, as well as examples of observations of layered clouds both near-vent and distally. We then explore dispersion models that explicitly use the observed layered structure of atmospheric turbulence. The results suggest that the alternation of turbulent and quiescent atmospheric layers provides one mechanism for the development of multilayered ash clouds by modulating vertical particle motion. The largest particles, generally >100 μm, are little affected by turbulence. For particles in which both settling and turbulent diffusion are important to vertical motion, mostly in the range of 10–100 μm, the greater turbulence intensity and more rapid turbulent diffusion in some layers causes these particles to spend greater time in the more turbulent layers, leading to a layering of concentration. The results may have important implications for ash cloud forecasting and aviation safety. |
| first_indexed | 2025-02-19T03:38:39Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/151855 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-02-19T03:38:39Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1518552021-10-23T20:11:08Z The development of volcanic ash cloud layers over hours to days due to atmospheric turbulence layering Bursik, Marcus Yang, Qingyuan Bear-Crozier, Adele Pavolonis, Michael Tupper, Andrew Asian School of the Environment Earth Observatory of Singapore Science::Geology Turbulence Eddy Diffusivity Volcanic ash clouds often become multilayered and thin with distance from the vent. We explore one mechanism for the development of this layered structure. We review data on the characteristics of turbulence layering in the free atmosphere, as well as examples of observations of layered clouds both near-vent and distally. We then explore dispersion models that explicitly use the observed layered structure of atmospheric turbulence. The results suggest that the alternation of turbulent and quiescent atmospheric layers provides one mechanism for the development of multilayered ash clouds by modulating vertical particle motion. The largest particles, generally >100 μm, are little affected by turbulence. For particles in which both settling and turbulent diffusion are important to vertical motion, mostly in the range of 10–100 μm, the greater turbulence intensity and more rapid turbulent diffusion in some layers causes these particles to spend greater time in the more turbulent layers, leading to a layering of concentration. The results may have important implications for ash cloud forecasting and aviation safety. Published version 2021-10-19T07:31:47Z 2021-10-19T07:31:47Z 2021 Journal Article Bursik, M., Yang, Q., Bear-Crozier, A., Pavolonis, M. & Tupper, A. (2021). The development of volcanic ash cloud layers over hours to days due to atmospheric turbulence layering. Atmosphere, 12(2), 285-. https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/atmos12020285 2073-4433 0000-0002-9312-5202 0000-0002-6769-9413 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/151855 10.3390/atmos12020285 2-s2.0-85102392538 2 12 285 en Atmosphere © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). application/pdf |
| spellingShingle | Science::Geology Turbulence Eddy Diffusivity Bursik, Marcus Yang, Qingyuan Bear-Crozier, Adele Pavolonis, Michael Tupper, Andrew The development of volcanic ash cloud layers over hours to days due to atmospheric turbulence layering |
| title | The development of volcanic ash cloud layers over hours to days due to atmospheric turbulence layering |
| title_full | The development of volcanic ash cloud layers over hours to days due to atmospheric turbulence layering |
| title_fullStr | The development of volcanic ash cloud layers over hours to days due to atmospheric turbulence layering |
| title_full_unstemmed | The development of volcanic ash cloud layers over hours to days due to atmospheric turbulence layering |
| title_short | The development of volcanic ash cloud layers over hours to days due to atmospheric turbulence layering |
| title_sort | development of volcanic ash cloud layers over hours to days due to atmospheric turbulence layering |
| topic | Science::Geology Turbulence Eddy Diffusivity |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/151855 |
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