Talk about suspended material and particulate matter

Last Friday, 22 October 2010, I gave a talk about re-suspended material and particulate matter pollution as part of the Friday Seminar series.

Suspended material includes dust in dust storms, and ash during episodes of re-suspended ash. There are also occasions where dust and pollution travels from other countries.

It is possible to show that dust storms contribute to several days on which the health limit for PM10 pollution is exceeded. It seems that close to 1/3 can be attributed to dust storms, and this year ash has contributed to 8 of the 23 times the health limit has been exceeded.

For the past few years, it is safe to say that natural sources are responsible for about half of the days that exceed the health limit (50 micro-g/m³).

Global campaign agains human induced climate change 2010.10.10

See more at loftslag.is and 350.org.

Improving ash and eruption detection with satellites

At the Engineering and Natural Sciences Research Symposium 2010 (R-VoN) 8 - 9 October I, in collaboration with Hróbjart, Inga and Hrund at the Icelandic Met Office, have a poster where we show the progress we have made in using satellite data to detect ash and eruptions/fires.

Inga and Hrund were summer-students at the IMO, great workers, through a project funded by the “Nýsköpunarsjóður Námsmanna” (Icelandic Centre for Research (RANNIS)).

Click the image for a larger size.

For more information, please contact Throstur.

Are dust, smoke and diesel exhaust really killing 9200 people a year? - California Watch (blog)

California Watch (blog)

Are dust, smoke and diesel exhaust really killing 9200 people a year? Less than the width of a human hair, fine particulate matter from smoke, dust, coal and diesel exhaust are so small they slip through the lungs and into the ... "

Fín samantekt á nýlegri skýrslu í Kalifornía um áhrif fíns svifryks.

Dust and ash blowing to the sea on 15 September 2010

Strong northerly winds, and rather dry conditions, meant that a lot of dust (and ash) was blowing out over the ocean on 15 September 2010.

The images above are from 13:20 (left column) and 15:00 (right column). Notice the little cloud that settles over Mýrdalsjökull (in the center on the south coast).

It is also interesting to note that the surface of the ablation zone seems to be completely free of ash. Since all snow accumulation melts away, we are left with a bare ice surface of which the ash washes away during rain and with melt water.