Even better air quality in the ash zone, except at Vik on 2010-06-29

Very low levels of PM₁₀ at Heimaland and Hvolsvöllur on 29 June 2010. Still a little high at Vik (70 micro-g/m³; health limit 50 micro-g/m³).

Much better air quality in the ash fallout zone on 2010-06-28

The 24-hour average was just over the health limit at Vík, but just below at Hvolsvöllur and Heimaland.

There is a peak in the concentration at Vík just after midnight, and then lower levels. Small peak around 4 at Hvolsvöllur.

Advise for wildfires and PM10 pollution

Couple of web-pages, unfortunately only in Icelandic so far, about the health risks associated with different levels of PM10 pollution, and how to not start wildfires by accidents :-)

Wildfires advice (in Icelandic) here.

PM10 advice (in Icelandic) here.

PM10 in the ash zone, east Iceland on 2010-06-27

Still quite a bit of particulate matter, especially at Heimaland (246 micro-g/m3) and Hvolsvöllur (152 micro-g/m3), but also at Vík (100 micro-g/m3).

More about PM10 on 2010-06-26

Looking at the weather data from 26 June 2010, we can see that at Vík (red circles) the wind direction did not change much through the day, and, perhaps counterintuitive, the highest level of PM10 seems to be when the wind speed is lowest.

At Heimaland (blue stars) the highest levels are also obtained at relatively low wind speeds, and difficult to see any pattern for wind direction.

Lots of PM10 at Heimalandi and Hvolsvöllur, but a lot less at Vík on 2010-06-26

On 26 June 2010 there was a high level of particulate matter at Heimaland. The daily average (24-hour) was over 580 micro-g/m3, and the highest value recorded during the day (10-min average) was 2888 micro-g/m3 !

Also quite high concentration at Hvolsvöllur, daily average of 267 micro-g/m3.

At Vík it was much lower, daily average of ~80 micro-g/m3.

Good air in the ash zone 2010-06-25

Just barely over the health limit in Vik, but below in Heimaland and Hvolsvöllur on 25 June 2010.

In Reykjavík, Fjölskyldu-og Húsdýragarðurinn (FHG), the average was under 7 micro-g/m3.

Vík, Heimaland and Hvolsvöllur PM10 2010-06-24

Generally good air quality on 24 June 2010. A little bit over the health limit though at Vik, but well below at Heimaland and Hvolsvöllur.

Satellite image from 14:30 on 24 June 2010 show that the south was quite cloudy. The (upper figure) shows where the sea ice lures just NW off Iceland. The lower image shows algae bloom west of Iceland nicely.

Air quality in the ash zone on 2010-06-23

The level of Particulate Matter (PM10) was much lower on 23 June 2010 than the day before. Slightly above the health limit (50 micro-g/m3) in Vík and Heimaland, but slightly below in Hvolsvöllur.

Air quality in the east 2010-06-22

Particulate matter pollution well over health limit yesterday, 22 June 2010, around 200 micro-g/m3 in Vik and Hvolsvöllur, and around 100 micro-g/m3 in Heimalandi.

Much worse air quality today than recently. Probably no rain, at least not much.

PM10 yesterday in Vik, Hvolsvöllur and Heimaland.

Note that the Hvolsvöllur shows 30-min averages, while Heimaland and Vík show 10-min averages. Peaks are therefore smaller at Hvolsvöllur (longer time average).

Wildfire in Arizona

The wildfire in Arizona has been in the news lately, endangering houses in the area.



Image from 21 June 2010. NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team.

Still similar air quality 2010-06-21

Just above the health limit in Vik, but well under in Heimaland and Hvolsvöllur on 21 June 2010.

Last measurement, at 10:30 today 22 June 2010, is at 138 micro-gram per cubic meter, higher than any value yesterday (131 micro-g/m3).

Daily values of PM10 at Vík, Heimaland and Hvolsvöllur 2010-06-20

The daily value of particulate matter (PM10) were almost the same as the day before on 20 June 2010. A little lower at Vik, but still above the health limit (which is 50 micro-g per cubic meter). None the less, quite good compared to the weeks before.

The location of the measurement stations is shown on the map below. And also the location of Fjölskyldu-og Húsdýragarðinum (FHG) station in Reykjavík.

Air quality in the ash fallout area

Air quality due to particulate matter (PM10) is routinely measured in the ash fallout zone after the Eyjafjallajökull eruption.

However, the health effects/risks are very poorly known. This applies both to short-and long time exposure.

There has been somewhat different advise, depending on the sources. Especially regarding infants - where I would advise not letting infants sleep outdoors if the level of pollution exceeds, well definitely 300 micro-g/m3 (micro-grams per cubic meter), and personally not even if it is over 100 micro-g/m3 (μg/m³).

The chart below, in Icelandic, show the color coding I use (adopted from a variety of sources). Green if concentration of particulate matter (PM10) is below 50 micro-g/m3, yellow if between 50 and 100 micro-g/m3, orange to gold between 100 to 300 micro-g/m3, and red if over 300 micro-g/m3.

Using these colors, the daily averages at stations close to the Eyjafjallajökull (and if above health limit due to resuspended ash in Reykjavik area), are shown below.

On the 19 June 2010 the level of PM10 in Vík, Heimaland, and Hvolsvöllur was generally good. At Vík it was just over the health limit (around 70 micro-g/m3; 24-hour average), but well below at Heimaland and Hvolsvöllur.

Hopefully rain and vegetation will continue to keep the levels low !

Resilient vegetation

Traveling through the ash fallout area in the south of Iceland, one would not guess that everything was covered with a thick layer of ash in May. Vegetation has in most places grown up through the ash and completely covers large areas; of course where there was vegetation before.

From Eldgosið í Eyjafjallajökli

This image, already from May 5 - when the eruption was still going strong - shows how green the field were, despite having been covered just a few weeks earlier with ash !

Ash Friday – 4 June 2010

A lot of ash was blowing around the south-west Iceland on Friday. The ash stems from the Eyjafjallajökull eruption.

The satellite image below shows the large gray area, where as is blowing, clearly.

Measurements of PM10 concentration show that the levels were very high at times in the Reykjavik area on 4 June 2010.

This figure shows the measured PM10 concentration at Grensás (GRE), Fjölskyldu-og Húsdýragarðinum (FHG), and Hvaleyrarholti, Hfj (HEH) – all in the Reykjavik area. The HEH data are 10-min averages, while GRE and FHG are 30-min averages (therefore we would expect higher peaks in the 10-min data).

Measurements closer to the volcano, at Vík (Vik 10-min), Heimaland (Heimal. 10-min) and Hvolsvöllur (Hvolsv. 30-min), show that the concentration at Heimaland, between Vik and Hvolsvöllur, went very high, while the Hvolsvöllur data has too many gaps to really be able to tell, and Vík was relatively (compared to other stations that day) low. The reason for that is that the wind-direction was easterly, and not much blew into town (this time).

 

The daily values have been high for the Vík, Heimaland and Hvolsvöllur stations all May (eruption stopped on 23 May 2010). The plot below shows this clearly.

This figure shows the daily average values at Vík (blue), Hvolsvöllur (reddish) and Heimaland (green).

At Vík there have been 5 days in this period with PM10 daily average over 200 mu-g/m3 (micro-grams per cubic meter): 8, 11, 12, 13 and 27 May.

At Heimaland there have been at least 3 (since mid-May), and at Hvolsvöllur at least 5 (since mid-May).

The highest levels have been at Heimaland, 1098 mu-g/m3 on 26 May, and 1008 on 4 June.