PlumeRise
Documentation
Introduction

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 state of the atmosphere can have a strong effect on the rise of plumes. The plume rises due to buoyancy (except for a region near the vent where the erupted material can be more dense than the atmosphere) and therefore the atmospheric density gradient has a strong control on the ascent of the plume. In addition, the plume can lift water vapour (either entrained into the plume from the moist lower atmosphere, or from magmatic volatiles) high into the atmosphere where condensation can occur. The release of latent heat to the plume can enhance the plume rise. PlumeRise allows atmospheric controls on volcanic plume rise to be assessed and includes a description of the thermodynamics of phase changes of water.

The model also accounts for the effect of cross winds on the rise of the plumes. Atmospheric winds enhance the mixing of atmospheric gases with the plume, and the plume density therefore adjusts to the ambient density more rapidly than would occur for a similar plume in a still atmosphere. Furthermore, the entrained atmospheric air carries horizontal momentum and the plume therefore acquires this momentum and is bent over by the cross wind. PlumeRise models the effect of a cross wind on the plume ascent using the entrainment formulation of Hewett, Fay & Hoult (1971).

Citation

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.

Features
Credits

The PlumeRise model was created by Mark Woodhouse, Andrew Hogg, Jeremy Phillips and Steve Sparks.

The web interface was developed by Chris Johnson.

Bibliography

PlumeRise uses the model of volcanic plumes rising in a moist, windy environment presented by

  1. 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.

Additional information on the fluid dynamics of plumes, the application to volcanic plumes, and the interaction of plumes with the atmosphere can be found in the following references.

  1. Morton, B.R., G.I. Taylor and J.S. Turner (1956), Turbulent Gravitational Convection from Maintained and Instantaneous Sources, Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 234(1196), 1–23.
  2. Morton, B.R. (1957), Buoyant plumes in a moist atmosphere, Journal of Fluid Mechanics 2(02), 127–144.
  3. Hewett, T., J. Fay and D. Hoult (1971), Laboratory experiments of smokestack plumes in a stable atmosphere, Atmospheric Environment 5(9), 767–789.
  4. Turner, J.S. (1973), Buoyancy effects in fluids, Cambridge University Press.
  5. Wilson, L., R.S.J. Sparks, T.C. Huang and N.D. Watkins (1978), The control of volcanic column heights by eruption energetics and dynamics, Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 83(B4), 1829–1836.
  6. Sparks, R.S.J. (1986), The dimensions and dynamics of volcanic eruption columns, Bulletin of Volcanology 48(1), 3–15.
  7. Woods, A.W. (1988), The fluid dynamics and thermodynamics of eruption columns, Bulletin of Volcanology 50(3), 169–193.
  8. Woods, A.W. and M.I. Bursik (1991), Particle fallout, thermal disequilibrium and volcanic plumes, Bulletin of Volcanology 53(7), 559–570.
  9. Woods, A.W. (1993), Moist convection and the injection of volcanic ash into the atmosphere, Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 98(B10), 17627–17636.
  10. Woods, A.W. (1995), The dynamics of explosive volcanic eruptions, Reviews of Geophysics 33(4), 495–530.
  11. Glaze, L.S. and S.M. Baloga (1996), Sensitivity of buoyant plume heights to ambient atmospheric conditions: Implications for volcanic eruption columns, Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 101(D1), 1529–1540.
  12. Sparks, R.S.J., M.I. Bursik, S.N. Carey, J.S. Gilbert, L.S. Glaze, H. Sigurdsson and A.W. Woods (1997), Volcanic Plumes, John Wiley & Sons.
  13. Glaze, L.S., S.M. Baloga and L. Wilson (1997), Transport of atmospheric water vapor by volcanic eruption columns, Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 102(D5), 6099–6108.
  14. Bursik, M.I. (2001), Effect of wind on the rise height of volcanic plumes, Geophysical Research Letters 28(18), 3621–3624.
  15. Mastin, L.G. (2007), A user-friendly one-dimensional model for wet volcanic plumes, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 8(3).
  16. Bursik, M.I., et al. (2009), Volcanic plumes and wind: Jetstream interaction examples and implications for air traffic, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 186 (1–2), 60–67.
  17. Mastin, L.G., et al. (2009), A multidisciplinary effort to assign realistic source parameters to models of volcanic ash-cloud transport and dispersion during eruptions, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 186 (1–2), 10–21.
  18. Woods, A.W. (2010), Turbulent Plumes in Nature, Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics 42, 391–412.
  19. Degruyter, W. and C. Bonadonna (2012), Improving on mass flow rate estimates of volcanic eruptions, Geophysical Research Letters 39(16).
  20. Bursik, M.I., et al. (2012), Estimation and propagation of volcanic source parameter uncertainty in an ash transport and dispersal model: application to the Eyjafjallajökull plume of 14–16 April 2010, Bulletin of Volcanology 74(10), 2321–2338.
  21. Devenish, B.J. (2013), Using simple plume models to refine the source mass flux of volcanic eruptions according to atmospheric conditions, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 256, 118–127.
  22. Woodhouse, M.J., A.J. Hogg, J.C. Phillips, and J.C. Rougier (2015), Uncertainty analysis of a model of wind-blown volcanic plumes, Bulletin of Volcanology 77: 83.
  23. Costa, A. et al. (2016), Results of the eruptive column model inter-comparison study, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 326, 2–25.
  24. Woodhouse, M.J., A.J. Hogg and J.C. Phillips, A global sensitivity analysis of the PlumeRise model of volcanic plumes, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 326, 54–76.