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Carbon Dioxide Emissions During the 2018 Kilauea Volcano Eruption Estimated Using OCO‐2 Satellite Retrievals
Author(s) -
Johnson Matthew S.,
Schwandner Florian M.,
Potter Christopher S.,
Nguyen Hai M.,
Bell Emily,
Nelson Robert R.,
Philip Sajeev,
O'Dell Christopher W.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2020gl090507
Subject(s) - volcano , flux (metallurgy) , carbon dioxide , satellite , atmospheric sciences , environmental science , geology , atmosphere (unit) , sulfur dioxide , meteorology , seismology , ecology , materials science , physics , aerospace engineering , engineering , metallurgy , biology
This study applies Orbiting Carbon Observatory‐2 (OCO‐2) column‐averaged dry‐air mole fractions of CO 2 (XCO 2 ) to constrain CO 2 fluxes during the 2018 Kilauea volcano eruption. CO 2 enhancements (ΔXCO 2 ) of 1–2 parts per million were observed far downwind of the eruption coincident with elevated sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) concentrations. The estimated CO 2 emission rate was 77.1 ± 49.6 kilotons per day (kt day −1 ) on 11 July 2018 with most of the uncertainty from modeled winds and XCO 2 retrievals. This emission rate is higher compared to flux estimates made with ground‐based measurements (30–40 kt day −1 ). However, cross‐sectional flux estimates made using OCO‐2 XCO 2 observations will inherently be larger than ground‐based measurements near the source as these estimates comprise all sources of CO 2 in the vicinity of the eruption (e.g., vegetation and soil burning). This study for the first time uses satellite XCO 2 data ~200 km downwind to estimate CO 2 emissions from a major volcanic eruption.