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Self-charging of the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic ash plume

Harrison, R. G. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0693-347X, Nicoll, K., Ulanowski, Z. J. and Mather, T. (2010) Self-charging of the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic ash plume. Environmental Research Letters, 5 (2). 024004. ISSN 1748-9326

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To link to this item DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/5/2/024004

Abstract/Summary

Abstract Volcanic plumes generate lightning from the electrification of plume particles. Volcanic plume charging at over 1200 km from its source was observed from in situ balloon sampling of the April 2010 Eyjafjallajökull plume over Scotland. Whilst upper and lower edge charging of a horizontal plume is expected from fair weather atmospheric electricity, the plume over Scotland showed sustained positive charge well beneath the upper plume edge. At these distances from the source, the charging cannot be a remnant of the eruption itself because of charge relaxation in the finite conductivity of atmospheric air.

Item Type:Article
Refereed:Yes
Divisions:Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > Department of Meteorology
Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO)
Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > Environmental Systems Science Centre
ID Code:5902
Uncontrolled Keywords:atmospheric electricity, aerosol, radiosonde, lightning
Publisher:Institute of Physics

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