Volcanic mesocyclones

Pinaki Chakraborty (), Gustavo Gioia and Susan W. Kieffer
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Pinaki Chakraborty: Department of Geology,
Gustavo Gioia: University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
Susan W. Kieffer: Department of Geology,

Nature, 2009, vol. 458, issue 7237, 497-500

Abstract: Volcanic plumes reshaped Pliny the Younger likened the shape of the plume from the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79 to that of the Italian umbrella pine. Two thousand years on, models of a volcanic plume still consist of a column topped by an 'umbrella'. Now a new analysis of satellite images of recent eruptions, including that of Mount Pinatubo in June 1991, reveals that these models are missing a subtle but crucial feature, a 'volcanic mesocyclone', that sets both column and umbrella spinning about their vertical axis. The volcanic mesocyclone provides a unified explanation for a disparate set of poorly understood phenomena in volcanic plumes, including tornadoes (waterspouts and dust devils), the development of the umbrella shape, and the formation of a type of lightning sheath observed spectacularly during the May 2008 eruption of Mount Chaiten in Chile.

Date: 2009
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DOI: 10.1038/nature07866

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