Date of Award

Summer 1993

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering

Program/Concentration

Mechanical Engineering

Committee Director

Surendra N. Tiwari

Committee Member

William L. Grose

Committee Member

Osama A. Kandil

Committee Member

Arthur C. Taylor

Call Number for Print

Special Collections; LD4331.E56F35

Abstract

A global finite-difference model that simulates the large-scale dynamics of the Earth's stratosphere and mesosphere is combined with a global spectral transport model to investigate aspects of the initial dispersal of the volcanic aerosol plume from the Mount Pinatubo eruption in 1991. Results of the modelling study are found to compare well with observations of the volcanic plume made from satellite instruments. Dynamical quantities, diagnosed from the simulated fields are used to provide insight into the evolution of the volcanic plume. Lagrangian trajectory analysis is used to help assess the performance of the Eulerian transport model and to highlight small-scale structure that is masked by finite resolution in the transport model. Lagrangian stretching rates give a quantitative measure of material deformation within the simulated plume.

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DOI

10.25777/1mfv-8068

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