Assessing in near real time the impact of the April 2010 Eyjafjallajökull ash plume on air quality

Augustin Colette (1) , Olivier Favez (1) , Frédérik Meleux (1) , Laura Chiappini (1) , Martial Haeffelin (2) , Yohann Morille (3) , Laure Malherbe (1) , Arnaud Papin (1) , Bertrand Bessagnet (1) , Laurent Menut (3) , Eva Leoz-Garziandia (1) , Laurence Rouil (1)

1 INERIS - Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques
2 IPSL (FR_636) - Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace
3 LMD - Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (UMR 8539)

The eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull in April 2010 led to the injection in the troposphere of an important quantity of volcanic ash whose advection towards densely populated areas raised serious concerns regarding potential impacts on air quality. Here we investigate to what extent air quality in France was altered using exclusively quantitative data that was available in near real-time. We rely on a combination of atmospheric dispersion modelling, ground-based remote sensing, and chemical characterization of airborne particles. One week after the onset of the eruption we were able to conclude that the Eyjafjallajökull ash plume was locally responsible for an increase of up to 30 +/- 10 µgm-3 of total PM10 (particulate matter finer than 10 µm) that reached 65 mg m-3 on 18 and 19 April 2010. The methodology presented in this letter offers promising perspectives in terms of emergency response strategy when facing such unforeseen atmospheric dispersion events.

Keywords: Air quality; Eyjafjallajökull; Long range transport; Lidar remote sensing; Chemistry transport modelling

Domains: Environmental and Society

Augustin Colette, Olivier Favez, Frédérik Meleux, Laura Chiappini, Martial Haeffelin, et al.. Assessing in near real time the impact of the April 2010 Eyjafjallajökull ash plume on air quality. Atmospheric environment, 2010, 45, pp.1217-1221. ⟨10.1016/j.atmosenv.2010.09.064⟩. ⟨hal-00681690⟩