First-time lidar measurement of water vapor flux in a volcanic plume

Abstract The CO 2 laser-based lidar ATLAS has been used to study the Stromboli volcano plume. ATLAS measured water vapor concentration in cross-sections of the plume and wind speed at the crater. Water vapor concentration and wind speed were retrieved by differential absorption lidar and correlation technique, respectively. Lidar returns were obtained up to a range of 3 km. The spatial resolution was 15 m and the temporal resolution was 20 s. By combining these measurements, the water vapor flux in the Stromboli volcano plume was found. To our knowledge, it is the first time that lidar retrieves water vapor concentrations in a volcanic plume.