Wind Entrainment in Jets with Reversing Buoyancy: Implications for Volcanic Plumes

Abstract

Explosive volcanic eruptions commonly undergo a transition from stable plume to collapsing fountain with associated destructive pyroclastic density currents. A major goal in physical volcanology is to predict quantitatively the limit between the flow regimes as a function of the source and environmental conditions. Atmospheric winds influence the dynamics and stability of the column causing bending and enhancing turbulent air entrainment. However, the predictions made with 1-D models of volcanic plumes accounting for the presence of wind strongly depend on the wind entrainment coefficient β, a parameter whose value varies in the literature. Here we present a new theoretical model to identify an analytical criterion for column collapse in windy conditions. We then present new laboratory experiments on turbulent jets with reversing buoyancy rising in a crossflow in order to better constrain β. Our results show that a single value of (Formula presented.) can be used to describe the behavior of laboratory jets with arbitrary buoyancy. The results allow us to parameterize our 1-D model of volcanic plumes PPM and to show the crucial importance of wind gradient and profile on volcanic column dynamics through the use of the 1991 Mt. Hudson eruption as a case study. Finally, we propose a new transition diagram between the stable plume and collapsing fountain regimes, as a function of wind speed and mass discharge rate only, which can be used for the rapid assessment of major hazards during an explosive eruption.