PlumeRise is a tool for modelling the rise of volcanic plumes in a moist and windy atmosphere. The mathematical model is based on the fluid dynamics of turbulent buoyant plumes and includes a description of the thermodynamics of the heat transfer between hot pyroclasts and the surrounding magmatic and atmospheric gases. Full details of the mathematical model used in PlumeRise can be found in Woodhouse, Hogg, Phillips & Sparks (2013).
The PlumeRise webtool allows predictions of the PlumeRise model with specific meteorological and source conditions to be investigated.
The rise height of volcanic plumes is related to the source mass flux through the dynamics of bouyant turbulent plumes. For a still atmosphere, the rise height H is related to the source mass flux (also known as the mass eruption rate) Q through a 1⁄4 power-law scaling, H~Q¼. A calibrated 1⁄4 power-law scaling relationship is often used to infer the source mass flux from an observation of the plume height.
The 1⁄4 power-law scaling relationship captures the leading-order behaviour, but changes in atmospheric stratification and wind speed strongly effect the rise height. Therefore, atmospheric conditions at the time of an eruption have important controls on the plume dynamics and the Q–H curve must use local meteorological data in order to accurately relate the source mass flux to the plume rise height.
The PlumeRise results presented here use observed atmospheric conditions to produce Q–H relationships. Meteorological data from global radiosonde releases at WMO stations is used to describe the state of the atmosphere. The meteorological measurements are typically made once or twice each day. PlumeRise forecasts are updated when new observations are added to the Wyoming weather web radiosonde repository.
In addition to the source mass flux, PlumeRise requires other inputs to represent the volcanic source. Specifically, PlumeRise uses the magmatic temperature, the mass fraction of exsolved magmatic gases, and the velocity of material as it exits the volcanic vent. These quantities may not be known. The results presented here therefore sample from a range of values, allowing the effect of uncertainty in these inputs on the Q–H to be assessed. Further information can be found in Guide to results.
- La Palma, Canary Islands.
If you would like a location added, please contact plumerise-info@bristol.ac.uk
- Bardarbunga, Iceland
- Nevado del Ruiz, Colombia
- Taal, Philippines.
- La Palma, Canary Islands.
If you use the results of PlumeRise in publications or reports, please cite Woodhouse, M.J., A.J. Hogg, J.C. Phillips, and R.S.J. Sparks (2013), Interaction between volcanic plumes and wind during the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption, Iceland, Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 118, 92–109.
The PlumeRise model was created by Mark Woodhouse, Andrew Hogg, Jeremy Phillips and Steve Sparks.
The website was developed by Mark Woodhouse and Chris Johnson.