Analysis of the long-range transport of the volcanic plume from the 2021 Tajogaite/Cumbre Vieja eruption to Europe using TROPOMI and ground-based measurements

Abstract

The eruptions of the Tajogaite volcano on the western flank of the Cumbre Vieja ridge on the island of La Palma between September and December 2021 released large amounts of ash and SO2. Transport and dispersion of the volcanic emissions were monitored by ground-based stations and satellite instruments alike. In particular, the spectrometric fluorescence and Raman lidar RAMSES at the Lindenberg Meteorological Observatory measured the plume of the strongest Tajogaite eruption of 22–23 September 2021 over northeastern Germany four days later. This study provides an analysis of SO2 vertical column density (VCD) and layer height (LH) measurements of the volcanic plume obtained with Sentinel-5 Precursor/TROPOMI, which are compared to the observations at several stations across the Canary Islands. Furthermore, a new modeling approach based on TROPOMI SO2 VCD measurements and the HYSPLIT trajectory and dispersion model was developed which confirmed the link between Tajogaite eruptions and Lindenberg measurements. Modeled mean emission height at the volcanic vent is in excellent agreement with co-located TROPOMI SO2 LH and local lidar ash height measurements. Finally, a comprehensive discussion of the RAMSES measurements is presented. A new retrieval approach has been developed to estimate the microphysical properties of the volcanic aerosol.