Impact of volcanic emissions on the air quality during the 2021 volcanic eruption of Tajogaite, La Palma: Implications for population exposure to volcanic pollutants
Volcanic eruptions inject particles (tephra) and gases into the atmosphere, impacting air quality. To provide new insights into this process, we focus on the 3-month-long 2021 Tajogaite eruption, on La Palma in the Canary Islands, Spain. This eruption emplaced lava flows and produced tephra and gase...
| Autores: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Formato: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2026 |
| País: | España |
| Recursos: | Universidad de Barcelona |
| Repositorio: | Dipòsit Digital de la UB |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:dnet:ubarcelona__::dc6f8c645329b1d43196b501c2ebd6a6 |
| Acesso em linha: | https://hdl.handle.net/2445/228804 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palavra-chave: | Cendres volcàniques Previsió de l'activitat volcànica Erupcions volcàniques Contaminació atmosfèrica Volcans Qualitat de l'aire Volcanic ash Volcanic activity prediction Volcanic eruptions Atmospheric pollution Volcanoes Air quality |
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Impact of volcanic emissions on the air quality during the 2021 volcanic eruption of Tajogaite, La Palma: Implications for population exposure to volcanic pollutantsMoune, SéverineNavarrete, WilmanNedelec, Jean MarieRodriguez-Gonzalez, AlejandroTomašek, InesVilches, JonPerez-Torrado, Francisco JoseEychenne, JuliaParis, RaphaelBorbon, AgnèsJessop, DavidGouhier, MathieuGisbert Pinto, GuillemCalafat Frau, AntoniColomb, AurélieFernández Turiel, José LuisGaussen, VincentGorce, ClaraCendres volcàniquesPrevisió de l'activitat volcànicaErupcions volcàniquesContaminació atmosfèricaVolcansQualitat de l'aireVolcanic ashVolcanic activity predictionVolcanic eruptionsAtmospheric pollutionVolcanoesAir qualityVolcanic eruptions inject particles (tephra) and gases into the atmosphere, impacting air quality. To provide new insights into this process, we focus on the 3-month-long 2021 Tajogaite eruption, on La Palma in the Canary Islands, Spain. This eruption emplaced lava flows and produced tephra and gases in multiple sustained plumes. We examined the relationship between air quality, tephra dispersion and deposition, and eruption dynamics. We reconstructed the spatiotemporal variations in tephra deposition using a collection network deployed around the island and maintained throughout the eruption, while plume dispersion was tracked using satellite observations. These datasets were compared to the air quality monitoring data from the local regulatory network using time-series analyses. Our findings reveal distinct peaks in tephra deposition rates (a few g/m2/h 20 km away from the vent, up to more than 2000 g/m2/h at locations less than 3 km from the vent), related to both increased explosive activity at the volcanic vents and specific atmospheric conditions. We show that the fluctuations of tephra emission were the main driver of the particulate matter (PM) concentration variations, outweighing contributions from secondary aerosol formation through volcanic SO2 conversion. We evidence spatial disparity in the impact on air quality, with the western half of La Palma island experiencing higher amplitude and more frequent pollution peaks than the eastern half. We demonstrate that even low-explosivity basaltic eruptions can significantly affect air quality by generating and dispersing fine PM and gases over wide areas. Moreover, elevated PM concentrations persist beyond the duration of intense tephra deposition episodes, thereby extending the period of population exposure. These results have important implications for understanding and mitigating human exposure to volcanic pollutants.Elsevier B.V.2026info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/2445/228804Articles publicats en revistes (Dinàmica de la Terra i l'Oceà)reponame:Dipòsit Digital de la UBinstname:Universidad de BarcelonaInglésReproducció del document publicat a: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2026.181551Science of the Total Environment, 2026, vol. 1019https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2026.181551cc-by (c) Moune, Séverine et al., 2026https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:dnet:ubarcelona__::dc6f8c645329b1d43196b501c2ebd6a62026-05-27T06:46:51Z |
| dc.title.none.fl_str_mv |
Impact of volcanic emissions on the air quality during the 2021 volcanic eruption of Tajogaite, La Palma: Implications for population exposure to volcanic pollutants |
| title |
Impact of volcanic emissions on the air quality during the 2021 volcanic eruption of Tajogaite, La Palma: Implications for population exposure to volcanic pollutants |
| spellingShingle |
Impact of volcanic emissions on the air quality during the 2021 volcanic eruption of Tajogaite, La Palma: Implications for population exposure to volcanic pollutants Moune, Séverine Cendres volcàniques Previsió de l'activitat volcànica Erupcions volcàniques Contaminació atmosfèrica Volcans Qualitat de l'aire Volcanic ash Volcanic activity prediction Volcanic eruptions Atmospheric pollution Volcanoes Air quality |
| title_short |
Impact of volcanic emissions on the air quality during the 2021 volcanic eruption of Tajogaite, La Palma: Implications for population exposure to volcanic pollutants |
| title_full |
Impact of volcanic emissions on the air quality during the 2021 volcanic eruption of Tajogaite, La Palma: Implications for population exposure to volcanic pollutants |
| title_fullStr |
Impact of volcanic emissions on the air quality during the 2021 volcanic eruption of Tajogaite, La Palma: Implications for population exposure to volcanic pollutants |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Impact of volcanic emissions on the air quality during the 2021 volcanic eruption of Tajogaite, La Palma: Implications for population exposure to volcanic pollutants |
| title_sort |
Impact of volcanic emissions on the air quality during the 2021 volcanic eruption of Tajogaite, La Palma: Implications for population exposure to volcanic pollutants |
| dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv |
Moune, Séverine Navarrete, Wilman Nedelec, Jean Marie Rodriguez-Gonzalez, Alejandro Tomašek, Ines Vilches, Jon Perez-Torrado, Francisco Jose Eychenne, Julia Paris, Raphael Borbon, Agnès Jessop, David Gouhier, Mathieu Gisbert Pinto, Guillem Calafat Frau, Antoni Colomb, Aurélie Fernández Turiel, José Luis Gaussen, Vincent Gorce, Clara |
| author |
Moune, Séverine |
| author_facet |
Moune, Séverine Navarrete, Wilman Nedelec, Jean Marie Rodriguez-Gonzalez, Alejandro Tomašek, Ines Vilches, Jon Perez-Torrado, Francisco Jose Eychenne, Julia Paris, Raphael Borbon, Agnès Jessop, David Gouhier, Mathieu Gisbert Pinto, Guillem Calafat Frau, Antoni Colomb, Aurélie Fernández Turiel, José Luis Gaussen, Vincent Gorce, Clara |
| author_role |
author |
| author2 |
Navarrete, Wilman Nedelec, Jean Marie Rodriguez-Gonzalez, Alejandro Tomašek, Ines Vilches, Jon Perez-Torrado, Francisco Jose Eychenne, Julia Paris, Raphael Borbon, Agnès Jessop, David Gouhier, Mathieu Gisbert Pinto, Guillem Calafat Frau, Antoni Colomb, Aurélie Fernández Turiel, José Luis Gaussen, Vincent Gorce, Clara |
| author2_role |
author author author author author author author author author author author author author author author author author |
| dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv |
Cendres volcàniques Previsió de l'activitat volcànica Erupcions volcàniques Contaminació atmosfèrica Volcans Qualitat de l'aire Volcanic ash Volcanic activity prediction Volcanic eruptions Atmospheric pollution Volcanoes Air quality |
| topic |
Cendres volcàniques Previsió de l'activitat volcànica Erupcions volcàniques Contaminació atmosfèrica Volcans Qualitat de l'aire Volcanic ash Volcanic activity prediction Volcanic eruptions Atmospheric pollution Volcanoes Air quality |
| description |
Volcanic eruptions inject particles (tephra) and gases into the atmosphere, impacting air quality. To provide new insights into this process, we focus on the 3-month-long 2021 Tajogaite eruption, on La Palma in the Canary Islands, Spain. This eruption emplaced lava flows and produced tephra and gases in multiple sustained plumes. We examined the relationship between air quality, tephra dispersion and deposition, and eruption dynamics. We reconstructed the spatiotemporal variations in tephra deposition using a collection network deployed around the island and maintained throughout the eruption, while plume dispersion was tracked using satellite observations. These datasets were compared to the air quality monitoring data from the local regulatory network using time-series analyses. Our findings reveal distinct peaks in tephra deposition rates (a few g/m2/h 20 km away from the vent, up to more than 2000 g/m2/h at locations less than 3 km from the vent), related to both increased explosive activity at the volcanic vents and specific atmospheric conditions. We show that the fluctuations of tephra emission were the main driver of the particulate matter (PM) concentration variations, outweighing contributions from secondary aerosol formation through volcanic SO2 conversion. We evidence spatial disparity in the impact on air quality, with the western half of La Palma island experiencing higher amplitude and more frequent pollution peaks than the eastern half. We demonstrate that even low-explosivity basaltic eruptions can significantly affect air quality by generating and dispersing fine PM and gases over wide areas. Moreover, elevated PM concentrations persist beyond the duration of intense tephra deposition episodes, thereby extending the period of population exposure. These results have important implications for understanding and mitigating human exposure to volcanic pollutants. |
| publishDate |
2026 |
| dc.date.none.fl_str_mv |
2026 |
| dc.type.none.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
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article |
| status_str |
publishedVersion |
| dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv |
https://hdl.handle.net/2445/228804 |
| url |
https://hdl.handle.net/2445/228804 |
| dc.language.none.fl_str_mv |
Inglés |
| language_invalid_str_mv |
Inglés |
| dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv |
Reproducció del document publicat a: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2026.181551 Science of the Total Environment, 2026, vol. 1019 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2026.181551 |
| dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv |
cc-by (c) Moune, Séverine et al., 2026 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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cc-by (c) Moune, Séverine et al., 2026 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
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openAccess |
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application/pdf |
| dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Elsevier B.V. |
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Elsevier B.V. |
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Articles publicats en revistes (Dinàmica de la Terra i l'Oceà) reponame:Dipòsit Digital de la UB instname:Universidad de Barcelona |
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Universidad de Barcelona |
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