Geology topics

Costanza Bonadonna

Publications and source records attributed to Costanza Bonadonna.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2023

New insights into the relationship between mass eruption rate and volcanic column height based on the IVESPA dataset

Rapid and simple estimation of the mass eruption rate (MER) from column height is essential for real-time volcanic hazard management and reconstruction of past explosive eruptions. Using 134 eruptive events from the new Independent Volcanic Eruption Source Parameter Archive (IVESPA, v1.0), we explore empirical MER-height relationships for four measures of column height: spreading level, sulfur dioxide height, and top height from direct observations and as reconstructed from deposits. These relationships show significant differences and highlight limitations of empirical models currently used in operational and research applications. The roles of atmospheric stratification, wind, and humidity remain challenging to detect across the wide range of eruptive conditions spanned in IVESPA, ultimately resulting in empirical relationships outperforming analytical models that account for atmospheric conditions. This finding highlights challenges in constraining the MER-height relation using heterogeneous observations and empirical models, which reinforces the need for improved eruption source parameter data sets and physics-based models.

Geophysical Research Letters↗

USGS2021

From anecdotes to quantification: Advances in characterizing volcanic eruption impacts on the built environment

Over the past 20 years, our understanding of volcanic eruption impacts on the built environment has transformed from being primarily observational with small datasets to one grounded in field investigations, laboratory experiments, and quantitative modeling, with an emphasis on stakeholder collaboration and co-creation. Here, we summarize key advances and knowledge gaps of impacts across volcanic hazards and built environment types from the past 20 + years. Studies have concentrated on impacts from tephra fall (ash) and to buildings, with less examination of other hazards’ impacts to critical infrastructure. As we look to the next decade, we speculate on likely research directions, including the increasing role of new technologies, higher resolution modeling, transdisciplinary collaborations, and evidence-based mitigative solutions.

Bulletin of Volcanology↗

USGS2021

The Independent Volcanic Eruption Source Parameter Archive (IVESPA, version 1.0): A new observational database to support explosive eruptive column model validation and development

Eruptive column models are powerful tools for investigating the transport of volcanic gas and ash, reconstructing past explosive eruptions, and simulating future hazards. However, the evaluation of these models is challenging as it requires independent estimates of the main model inputs (e.g. mass eruption rate) and outputs (e.g. column height). There exists no database of independently estimated eruption source parameters (ESPs) that is extensive, standardized, maintained, and consensus-based. This paper introduces the Independent Volcanic Eruption Source Parameter Archive (IVESPA, ivespa.co.uk), a community effort endorsed by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth’s Interior (IAVCEI) Commission on Tephra Hazard Modelling. We compiled data for 134 explosive eruptive events, spanning the 1902-2016 period, with independent estimates of: i) total erupted mass of fall deposits; ii) duration; iii) eruption column height; and iv) atmospheric conditions. Crucially, we distinguish plume top versus umbrella spreading height, and the height of ash versus sulphur dioxide injection. All parameter values provided have been vetted independently by at least two experts. Uncertainties are quantified systematically, including flags to describe the degree of interpretation of the literature required for each estimate. IVESPA also includes a range of additional parameters such as total grain size distribution, eruption style, morphology of the plume (weak versus strong), and mass contribution from pyroclastic density currents, where available. We discuss the future developments and potential applications of IVESPA and make recommendations for reporting ESPs to maximize their usability across different applications. IVESPA covers an unprecedented range of ESPs and can therefore be used to evaluate and develop eruptive column models across a wide range of conditions using a standardized dataset.

Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research↗

USGS2020

Aeolian remobilisation of volcanic ash: Outcomes of a workshop in the Argentinian Patagonia

During explosive volcanic eruptions, large quantities of tephra can be dispersed and deposited over wide areas. Following deposition, subsequent aeolian remobilisation of ash can potentially exacerbate primary impacts on timescales of months to millennia. Recent ash remobilisation events (e.g., following eruptions of Cordón Caulle 2011; Chile, and Eyjafjallajökull 2010, Iceland) have highlighted this to be a recurring phenomenon with consequences for human health, economic sectors, and critical infrastructure. Consequently, scientists from observatories and Volcanic Ash Advisory Centers (VAACs), as well as researchers from fields including volcanology, aeolian processes and soil sciences, convened at the San Carlos de Bariloche headquarters of the Argentinian National Institute of Agricultural Technology to discuss the “state of the art” for field studies of remobilised deposits as well as monitoring, modeling and understanding ash remobilisation. In this article, we identify practices for field characterisation of deposits and active processes, including mapping, particle characterisation and sediment traps. Furthermore, since forecast models currently rely on poorly-constrained dust emission schemes, we call for laboratory and field measurements to better parameterise the flux of volcanic ash as a function of friction velocity. While source area location and extent are currently the primary inputs for dispersion models, once emission schemes become more sophisticated and better constrained, other parameters will also become important (e.g., source material volume and properties, effective precipitation, type and distribution of vegetation cover, friction velocity). Thus, aeolian ash remobilisation hazard and associated impact assessment require systematic monitoring, including the development of a regularly-updated spatial database of resuspension source areas.

Frontiers in Earth Science↗

USGS2016

Results of the eruptive column model inter-comparison study

This study compares and evaluates one-dimensional (1D) and three-dimensional (3D) numerical models of volcanic eruption columns in a set of different inter-comparison exercises. The exercises were designed as a blind test in which a set of common input parameters was given for two reference eruptions, representing a strong and a weak eruption column under different meteorological conditions. Comparing the results of the different models allows us to evaluate their capabilities and target areas for future improvement. Despite their different formulations, the 1D and 3D models provide reasonably consistent predictions of some of the key global descriptors of the volcanic plumes. Variability in plume height, estimated from the standard deviation of model predictions, is within ~ 20% for the weak plume and ~ 10% for the strong plume. Predictions of neutral buoyancy level are also in reasonably good agreement among the different models, with a standard deviation ranging from 9 to 19% (the latter for the weak plume in a windy atmosphere). Overall, these discrepancies are in the range of observational uncertainty of column height. However, there are important differences amongst models in terms of local properties along the plume axis, particularly for the strong plume. Our analysis suggests that the simplified treatment of entrainment in 1D models is adequate to resolve the general behaviour of the weak plume. However, it is inadequate to capture complex features of the strong plume, such as large vortices, partial column collapse, or gravitational fountaining that strongly enhance entrainment in the lower atmosphere. We conclude that there is a need to more accurately quantify entrainment rates, improve the representation of plume radius, and incorporate the effects of column instability in future versions of 1D volcanic plume models.

Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research↗