Aerosols are an important component of the climate system affecting visibility, clouds, and climate. They are also transported over short and long distances with consequences for continental‐scale nutrient availability. Processes that remove aerosols from the atmosphere are difficult to evaluate with observations in isolation from aerosol sources. As a result, a quantitative assessment of uncertainties in our understanding of aerosols is limited and narrowing of those uncertainties is difficult to demonstrate. In this study, we use satellite observations of sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and aerosols downwind of the Kīlauea volcano during May–September 2008. We derive the SO₂ emission rate, the loss rate of SO₂ that is indicative of the production rate of sulfate aerosols, and the subsequent removal rate of the formed sulfate. The result is the first determination of volcanic sulfate aerosol lifetime, 40–64 h, directly from satellite observations. The derived sulfate lifetime is significantly lower than the global average (3–5.5 days) and reflects the rapid wet scavenging of this plume.

中文翻译：

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火山硫酸盐气溶胶寿命的空间估计

气溶胶是气候系统中影响能见度，云和气候的重要组成部分。它们也被短距离和长距离运输，从而影响了大陆范围内的养分供应。从大气中分离出气溶胶的过程很难通过与气溶胶来源隔离的观察来评估。结果，对我们对气溶胶的理解中不确定性的定量评估是有限的，并且这些不确定性的缩小难以证明。在这项研究中，我们使用二氧化硫（SO卫星观测₂）和顺风基拉韦厄火山气溶胶2008年5月- 9月，我们得到的SO ₂排放率，所以损失率₂这表明了硫酸盐气溶胶的产生速率，以及随后形成的硫酸盐的去除速率。结果是直接从卫星观测结果中首次确定了40-64 h的火山硫酸盐气溶胶寿命。得出的硫酸盐寿命显着低于全球平均水平（3–5.5天），反映了这种羽流的快速湿清除。