Observing and Forecasting Vog Dispersion from Kīlauea Volcano, Hawaii
AbstractEmissions from Kīlauea volcano, known locally as “vog” for volcanic smog, pose significant environmental and health risks to the Hawaiian community. The Vog Measurement and Prediction (VMAP) project was conceived to help mitigate the negative impacts of Kīlauea’s emissions. To date, the VMAP project has achieved the following milestones: i) created a custom application of the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory model (HYSPLIT, hereafter Vog model) to produce statewide forecasts of the concentration and dispersion of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and sulfate aerosol from Kīlauea volcano; ii) developed an ultraviolet (UV) spectrometer array to provide near-real-time volcanic gas emission rate measurements for use as input into the Vog model; iii) developed and deployed a stationary array of ambient SO2 and meteorological sensors to record the spatial characteristics of Kīlauea’s gas plume in high temporal and spatial resolution for model verification; and iv) developed web-based tools to ...