On the interaction of Tropical Cyclone Flossie and emissions from Hawaii's Kilauea volcano

Abstract

On 29 July 2013, Tropical Storm Flossie passed the Hawaiian Islands. This is the first interaction between an active, vigorously degassing volcano and a tropical cyclone captured by a vog (volcanic smog) dispersion model run over the Hawaiian Islands since operational simulations began in 2010, providing a unique opportunity to analyze the influence of robust volcanic emissions entrained into a tropical cyclone. Results from the vog dispersion model are compared with Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite observations, lightning data from Vaisala's Global Lightning Dataset (GLD360), and the National Weather Service Weather Surveillance Radar, 1988 Dual-Polarmetric Doppler radar to investigate the effect of volcanic emissions on the storm. Observations and model results suggest that aerosol loading resulted in deep convection and glaciation which in turn enhanced charge separation and promoted active lightning. © 2014. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.