Hail Formation Triggers Rapid Ash Aggregation in Volcanic Plumes
During explosive eruptions, airborne particles collide and stick together, accelerating the fallout of volcanic ash and climate-forcing aerosols. This aggregation process remains a major source of uncertainty both in ash dispersal forecasting and interpretation of eruptions from the geological record. Here we illuminate the mechanisms and timescales of particle aggregation from a well-characterized ‘wet’ eruption. The 2009 eruption of Redoubt Volcano, Alaska, incorporated water from the surface (in this case, a glacier), which is a common occurrence during explosive volcanism worldwide. Observations from C-band weather radar, fall deposits and numerical modelling demonstrate that hail-forming processes in the eruption plume triggered aggregation of ∼95% of the fine ash and stripped much of the erupted mass out of the atmosphere within 30 min. Based on these findings, we propose a mechanism of hail-like ash aggregation that contributes to the anomalously rapid fallout of fine ash and occurrence of concentrically layered aggregates in volcanic deposits.
- Author (aut): Van Eaton, Alexa
- Author (aut): Mastin, Larry G.
- Author (aut): Herzog, Michael
- Author (aut): Schwaiger, Hans F.
- Author (aut): Schneider, David J.
- Author (aut): Wallace, Kristi L.
- Author (aut): Clarke, Amanda
- Contributor (ctb): College of Liberal Arts and Sciences