Hilo Thread

[geochem]

It's pretty clear that the Windy site, as nice as the image looks, is incorrect with respect to SO2 in at least a couple of respects: as ironyak pointed out, it doesn't include the current sources in lower Puna or at the Kilauea summit and isn't of much use to the residents at either location. It also doesn't include the conversion of SO2 to sulfate aerosols (the former is dangerous, the latter is irritating) as the plume moves away from the vents: it forecasts high SO2 in Kona and the Mauna Loa summit (apparently from the upslope winds) where measurements in the past have shown that the downwind vog has converted to sulfate aerosols by the time the plume reaches Kona.

Clearly the Windy site managers can't track every sulfur dioxide source on the planet and I'm not criticizing them on that basis. But the vog modeling site is based on current local information and is a more realistic source of information on sulfur dioxide exposures.