VolcanEESM: Global volcanic sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions database from 1850 to present - Version 1.0

This dataset is associated with the VolcanEESM project led by the project team at the University of Leeds. The project was funded by NCAR/UCAR Atmospheric Chemistry and Modeling Visiting Scientist Program, NCAS, University of Leeds.

The global volcanic sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions database is a combination of available information from the wider literature with as many observations of the amount and location of SO2 emitted by each volcanic eruption as possible. The database includes no information about the size, mass, distribution or optical depth of resulting aerosol. As such the database is model agnostic and it is up to each modeling group to make decisions about how to implement the emission file in their prognostic stratospheric aerosol scheme.

The dataset is divided into two parts based on the availability of satellite data. For the pre-satellite era, the necessary information about the emissions was gathered from the latest ice core records of sulphate deposition in combination historical accounts available in the wider literature (see references included in the database for specific citation for each record). In the satellite era, volcanic emissions were primarily derived from remotely sensed observations.

For the period 1850 CE to 1979 the dataset combined the most recent volcanic sulfate deposition datasets from ice cores with volcanological and, where applicable, petrological estimates of the SO2 mass emitted as well as historical records of large-magnitude volcanic eruptions. In detail, for the majority of eruptions between 1850 CE to 1979 , there are few direct measurement of SO2 emissions or quantitative observations of the plume height and very few measurements of the aerosol optical depth (AOD).

Parameters in the database include:

Day_of_Emission: The 24 hour period in which the emission is thought to have occurred. (Ordered by the variable Eruption_Number starting with the first eruption in the database.)

Eruption: Field that contains the Volcano_Number (Which uniquely identifies each volcano in the Global Volcanism Program Database), Volcano_Name (official name from the Global Volcanism Program Database), Notes_and_References (list of notes about the observed parameters and references used to derive each entry). ( Ordered by the variable Eruption_Number starting with the first eruption in the database.)

Latitude: Latitude of each emission from -90 to +90 (Ordered by the variable Eruption_Number starting with the first eruption in the database.)

Longitude: Longitude of each emission degrees East (Ordered by the variable Eruption_Number starting with the first eruption in the database.)

VEI: Volcanic Explosively Index of each emission based on Global Volcanism Program Database (Ordered by the variable Eruption_Number starting with the first eruption in the database.)

Total_Emission_of_SO2_Tg: Total emission of SO2 in teragram for the specific database entry (Ordered by the variable Eruption_Number starting with the first eruption in the database.)

Maximum_Injection_Height_km: Maximum height of each emission in kilometers above sea level. (Ordered by the variable Eruption_Number starting with the first eruption in the database.)

Minimum_Injection_Height_km: Minimum height of each emission in kilometers above sea level. (Ordered by the variable Eruption_Number starting with the first eruption in the database.)

Month_of_Emission: The month in which the emission is thought to have occurred. (Ordered by the variable Eruption_Number starting with the first eruption in the database.)

Year_of_Emission: The Year in which the emission is thought to have occurred. (Ordered by the variable Eruption_Number starting with the first eruption in the database.)

Date (Publication): 2016-02-03T16:11:13

Date (Creation): 2016-02-03T16:11:13

Citation identifier: https://catalogue.ceda.ac.uk/uuid/a8a7e52b299a46c9b09d8e56b283d385

Citation identifier: Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) / a8a7e52b299a46c9b09d8e56b283d385

Citation identifier: doi / http://dx.doi.org/10.5285/76ebdc0b-0eed-4f70-b89e-55e606bcd568

Point of contact

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
Unavailable	Neely III, Ryan R.	Unavailable	Author
Unavailable	Schmidt, Anja	Unavailable	Author
Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA)		support@ceda.ac.uk	Custodian
Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA)		support@ceda.ac.uk	Distributor
Unavailable	Neely III, Ryan R.	Unavailable	Principal investigator
Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA)		support@ceda.ac.uk	pointofContact
Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA)		support@ceda.ac.uk	Publisher

Maintenance and update frequency: Not planned

Update scope: Dataset

Keywords

Volcano
SO2
sulphur dioxide
volcanic eruptions
Earth System Models
VolcanEESM

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

atmospheric conditions

Access constraints: Other restrictions

Other constraints: Access to these data is available to any registered CEDA user. Please Login or Register for a CEDA account to gain access.

Use constraints: Other restrictions

Other constraints: Under the following licence http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/, appropriate use of these data may fall under any use. This message is intended as guidance, always read the full licence. When using these data you must cite them correctly using the citation given on the CEDA Data Catalogue record.

Spatial representation type: Grid

Language: English

Topic category

Climatology, meteorology, atmosphere

Begin date: 1850-01-01T00:00:00

End date: 2015-04-23T23:00:00

Unique resource identifier: WGS 84

Distribution format

Name	Version
NetCDF

Distributor contact

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA)		support@ceda.ac.uk	Distributor

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
	https://catalogue.ceda.ac.uk/uuid/a8a7e52b299a46c9b09d8e56b283d385	CEDA Data Catalogue Page

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
	http://data.ceda.ac.uk/badc/volcan-eesm/data/v1	DOWNLOAD

Hierarchy level: Dataset

Conformance result

Title: Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services

Date (Publication): 2010-12-08

Statement: Data provided by the project PI for archival at CEDA.

Metadata

File identifier: a8a7e52b299a46c9b09d8e56b283d385 XML

Metadata language: English

Character set: UTF8

Parent identifier: VolcanEESM (Volcanic Emissions for Earth System Models): Volcanic sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions database from 1850 to present
bfbd5ec825fa422f9a858b14ae7b2a0d

Hierarchy level: Dataset

Date stamp: 2025-12-07T03:05:57

Metadata standard name: UK GEMINI

Metadata standard version: 2.3

Metadata author

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA)		support@ceda.ac.uk	Point of contact

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