Geochemical characterization of single atmospheric particles from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption event collected at ground-based sampling sites in Germany

Volcanic particles can be transported over long distances in the atmosphere and can cause severe problems for air traffic. This was the case over large areas of Europe in spring 2010 after the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull (E15) volcano on Iceland.The scope of this work was to characterize these volcanic particles more in detail with regard to size and chemical composition in order to provide valuable information needed for a better estimation of the possible impact on airplane jet engines and cockpit windows. Another question of this study was which share of the overall atmospheric particles in Germany originated from the E15 eruption and whether this amount of volcanic particles could cause any adverse health effects to humans. To this end, single particle analysis by means of scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDX) and synchrotron radiation based micro X-ray fluorescence analysis (μS-XRF) together with multivariate statistical methods were applied for samples collected on ground-level in Southwest Germany and Iceland. Based on the obtained chemical fingerprints combined with multivariate statistical methods it was possible to discrimate between the amount of volcanic particles from Iceland and other atmospheric particles from non-volcanic sources. This aspect distinguishes this single particle approach from most other studies. The results of the study showed that at least 40% of the analyzed particles between 2.5 and 10 μm size at the remote sampling sites in the Black Forest area and about 25% in the city of Freiburg were clearly of volcanic origin from the E15 volcano eruption event.

► Volcanic particles, deposited on ground-level in Germany, were characterized.
► The focus of this study was on particles between 2.5 and 10 μm size.
► A geochemical fingerprint was obtained by single particle analyses (SEM-EDX, μS-XRF).
► Results showed that 40% of the analyzed particles originated from the E15 volcano.