A simulation of the Cerro Hudson SO[sub 2] cloud

Journal Article · Sat Feb 20 00:00:00 EST 1993 · Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/92JD02517· OSTI ID:6711493

Schoeberl, M R; Lait, L R; Newman, P A; Krueger, A J ^[1]; Doiron, S D ^[2]

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1. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (United States)
2. Hughes STX Corp., Lanham, MD (United States)

An isentropic trajectory model is used to simulate the evolution of the southern hemisphere SO[sub 2] cloud associated with the eruption of Cerro Hudson. By matching the parcel trajectories with total ozone mapping spectrometer SO[sub 2] retrievals, the principal stratospheric injection region is determined to be between 11 and 16 km in altitude. This region is characterized by weak wind shears and is located just poleward of the subtropical jet in the outer fringe of the stratospheric polar vortex. The lack of wind shear in the injection region explains the slow zonal dispersal of the SO[sub 2] cloud which was still clearly observed 19 days after the eruption. The trajectory model simulation of the SO[sub 2] cloud shows good agreement with observations for 7 days after the eruption. Using the potential vorticity and potential temperature estimates of the initial eruption cloud, the cloud position relative to the polar night jet is shown to be nearly fixed up to September 2, 1991, which was as long as the cloud was observed. This result suggests that the lower stratopsheric polar and mid-latitude regions are nearly isolated from each other during the late August period. 9 refs., 5 figs.

• OSTI ID: 6711493
• Journal Information: Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States), Vol. 98:D2; ISSN 0148-0227
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
CLOUDS
SIMULATION
SULFUR DIOXIDE
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
VOLCANIC GASES
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
ERUPTION
INJECTION
MAPPING
SHEAR
SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE
STRATOSPHERE
TRAJECTORIES
VOLCANOES
WIND
CHALCOGENIDES
EARTH PLANET
FLUIDS
GASES
INTAKE
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PLANETS
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
SULFUR OXIDES
540120* - Environment
Atmospheric- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)