Climatic impacts of volcaninc ash electrification

Project Information

ElectricVolcano

Grant agreement ID: 895461

DOI

10.3030/895461

Project closed

EC signature date 21 April 2020

Start date 1 March 2021

End date 28 February 2024

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 165 085,44

EU contribution

€ 165 085,44

Coordinated by

ETHNIKO ASTEROSKOPEIO ATHINON
Greece

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ElectricVolcano (Climatic impacts of volcaninc ash electrification)

Reporting period: 2021-03-01 to 2023-02-28

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

ElectricVolcano assumes a complex view regarding the life cycle of volcanic ash, which is never studied before. In the literature, there is only one model study addressing the impacts of stratospheric volcanic ash on climate4. Ash electrification has never been considered in climate modelling, while a very limited number of models simulate atmospheric electrification19. ElectricVolcano aims at narrowing these knowledge gaps by quantifying the importance of this forgotten climate forcing, so as to successfully address the following Research Objectives (RO):
RO1: Parametrize charging mechanisms in a global model
RO2: Assess the impact of electric charging on volcanic ash stratospheric residence times
RO3: Assess the climatic signature of stratospheric volcaninc eruptions

Conclusions of the action
A new coupling between aerosols and GEC has been introduced in the EMAC/MESSy model

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Work summary in titles
Investigating the influence of volcanic ash injection height in nudged global simulations
Mechanisms explaining the decline in Etesian winds after large volcanic eruptions
Electrification in the atmosphere: Measurements at the Villum Research Station
Aeolus winds impact on volcanic ash

List the conferences attended
• COSPAR 2022 - 44th Scientific Assembly - 16-24 July 2022, Athens
• 15TH QUADRENNIAL SOLAR TERRESTRIAL PHYSICS SYMPOSIUM (STP-15), online
• 16th International Conference on Meteorology, Climatology and Atmospheric Physics, Athens 2023
• European Geophysical Union General Assembly, Vienna, 2023
• ICTP-SCOSTEP-ISWI School and Workshop on the Predictability of the Solar-Terrestrial Coupling
• APARC (SPARC) workshop on the impact of the Hunga eruption, Paris, 2024

Papers published in peer-reviewed scientific journals
• V. Amiridis, A. Kampouri, A. Gkikas, S. Misios, ... A.G. Straume: Aeolus winds impact on volcanic ash early warning systems for aviation, Scientific Reports, 2023
• S. Misios, I. Logothetis, M. F. Knudsen, C. Karoff, V. Amiridis, K. Tourpali: Decline of Etesian winds after large volcanic eruptions in the last millennium, Weather and Climate Dynamics, 2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2022-16

Outreach activities
• Facebook account
• Public talk on NOA Researcher’s night at the Kryoneri Observatory.
• Appearance on an online talk about climate change.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Since we did not find model evidence that electric field can influence the lifetime of volcanic dust in the stratosphere, we explored different mechanisms, namely charge-induced changes in stratiform clouds.

Clouds play a vital role on weather and climate by affecting precipitation and Earth’s radiation budget. The majority of observational and all climate modelling studies assume a neutral environment, when studying cloud variations and cloud-aerosol interactions, hence neglecting altogether one key property of the atmosphere: electric charges. High energy cosmic rays of galactic and solar origin produce ion clusters and charge the whole atmosphere causing a ubiquitous potential difference between the ionosphere and the surface. Theory indicates that atmospheric charging has the potential to influence layered clouds but little is known about the climatic relevance of charge-cloud interactions, because a) experimental evidence is very limited and b) climate models do not include yet relevant parameterizations.

To address some of those mechanisms we a) implemented new atmospheric electricity scheme in the EMAC/MESSy model and b) we installed a Chilworth JCI 131 electric field at the Villum Research Station in Greenland to provide continuous measurements of potential gradient at ground level to characterize GEC (Global Electric Circuit) variations. The particular meteorological conditions (e.g. negligible diurnal variability during polar night) that facilitate excellent GEC measurements and the frequent presence of liquid-phase layered clouds, make VRS the best location to study charge-cloud processes and their climatic signature. The modelling work has been presented in EGU2021 and the new code has been introduced in the future releases of the model. The instrument has been installed at VRS in August 2022 and we are planning to present the first year of measurments soon. Before Greenland the instrument undergone a preparatory measuring phase in a high altitude site at 2300m Mt. Helmos, Greece. This was a necessary phase to examine and upgrade the thermal insulation of the instrument to cope with the harsh environment in Greenland.

Figure from V. Amiridis et. al., 2023