Assessing the Transport of Volcanic Aerosol in the Stratosphere over Tomsk and Vladivostok from Lidar Data

Abstract

The transport of volcanic aerosol in the atmosphere after the eruptions of the Grimsvotn and Nabro volcanoes in 2011 is analyzed using the method of Lagrangian particle trajectories. It was impossible to identify volcanic aerosol after the Grimsvotn eruption using data of lidar observations over Tomsk and Vladivostok against the existing background aerosol. At that time there was strong horizontal mixing in the Northern Hemisphere atmosphere. Volcanic aerosol formed after the Nabro eruption was clearly manifested in the form of aerosol scattering peaks over Vladivostok and Tomsk. This is proved by data of the CALIPSO space lidar and by the satellite observations of sulfur dioxide with GOME-2. The dynamics of the eruptive aerosol cloud formation over the Northern Hemisphere is traced.