Alexa Van Eaton, Ph.D.
I am a physical volcanologist focusing on field-based geology to shed light on the behavior of volcanic eruptions. I use stratigraphic studies to piece together eruptive processes, a variety of observational tools to characterize active eruptions, and numerical models to examine the internal dynamics of volcanic plumes.
Some current projects include:
- Volcanic lightning as a means of tracking eruption style and hazards
- Investigating ash aggregation and impacts on the lifetime of volcanic clouds
- Stratigraphy of eruptive processes at Cascades volcanoes, including Mount St. Helens and Glacier Peak
- Satellite detection of umbrella cloud growth to determine mass eruption rates
- Numerical modeling of microphysical processes inside volcanic plumes
Professional Experience
Since 2017 Co-leader of the IAVCEI Commission on Tephra Hazard Modeling
Since 2017 Research Geologist, USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory
2015-2017 USGS Mendenhall Postdoctoral Fellow
2013-2015 NSF Earth Sciences Postdoctoral Fellow
Education and Certifications
2007–2012 Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, Ph.D., Geology
2002–2006 University of Florida, Gainesville, B.S. summa cum laude, Geology with English minor
Honors and Awards
IAVCEI George Walker Award, 2017
John Gamble Award in Geology, 2011, Victoria University of Wellington
New Zealand International Doctoral Research Scholarship, 2007-2010
Science and Products
Data used to develop a probabilistic assessment of tephra-fall hazards at Hanford, Washington
Data in this data release contain Model input and output for simulations used to estimate the amount of tephra that could fall on the Hanford nuclear waste repository. The results of that study were written up in the report: Mastin, L.G., Van Eaton, A.E., and Schwaiger, H.F., 2020 A Probabilistic Assessment of Tephra-Fall Hazards at Hanford, Washington, from a Future Eruption of Mount St. Helens,
Observations and model simulations of umbrella-cloud growth during eruptions of Mount Pinatubo (Philippines, June 15, 1991), Kelud Volcano (Indonesia, February 14, 2014), and Calbuco Volcano (Chile, April 22-23, 2015)
Model output to accompany the paper "Comparing Simulations of Umbrella-Cloud Growth and Ash Transport with Observations from Pinatubo, Kelud, and Calbuco Volcanoes", by L.G. Mastin and Alexa Van Eaton, published by the journal Atmosphere. The data release includes model input and output used to generate figures in the paper. Reference: Mastin, L.G., and Van Eaton, A.R., 2020, Comparing Simulation
Filter Total Items: 34
Special topic—Eruption plumes and clouds
IntroductionExplosive eruptions create plumes of volcanic ash and gas that can rise more than 30,000 feet (9.1 kilometers [km]) above sea level within minutes of eruption onset. The resulting clouds disperse under prevailing winds and may cause hazardous conditions hundreds to thousands of kilometers from the volcano, including in international airspace. Rapid detection and characterization of exp
Authors
David J. Schneider, Alexa R. Van Eaton
Did steam boost the height and growth rate of the giant Hunga eruption plume?
The eruption of Hunga volcano on 15 January 2022 produced a higher plume and faster-growing umbrella cloud than has ever been previously recorded. The plume height exceeded 58 km, and the umbrella grew to 450 km in diameter within 50 min. Assuming an umbrella thickness of 10 km, this growth rate implied an average volume injection rate into the umbrella of 330–500 km3 s−1. Conventional relationshi
Authors
Larry G. Mastin, Alexa R. Van Eaton, Shane Cronin
A one-dimensional volcanic plume model for predicting ash aggregation
During explosive volcanic eruptions, volcanic ash is ejected into the atmosphere, impacting aircraft safety and downwind communities. These volcanic clouds tend to be dominated by fine ash (<63 μm in diameter), permitting transport over hundreds to thousands of kilometers. However, field observations show that much of this fine ash aggregates into clusters or pellets with faster settling velocitie
Authors
Davis W. Hoffman, Larry G. Mastin, Alexa R. Van Eaton, Stephen A. Solovitz, Raul B. Cal, John K. Eaton
New insights into the relationship between mass eruption rate and volcanic column height based on the IVESPA dataset
Rapid and simple estimation of the mass eruption rate (MER) from column height is essential for real-time volcanic hazard management and reconstruction of past explosive eruptions. Using 134 eruptive events from the new Independent Volcanic Eruption Source Parameter Archive (IVESPA, v1.0), we explore empirical MER-height relationships for four measures of column height: spreading level, sulfur dio
Authors
Thomas J. Aubry, Samantha Engwell, Costanza Bonadonna, Larry G. Mastin, Guillaume Carazzo, Alexa R. Van Eaton, David E. Jessop, Roy G. Grainger, Simona Scollo, Isabelle A Taylor, A. Mark Jellinek, Anja Schmidt, Sebastien Biass, Mathieu Gouhier
Ash aggregate-rich pyroclastic density currents of the 431 CE Tierra Blanca Joven eruption, Ilopango caldera, El Salvador
The VEI 6, Tierra Blanca Joven pyroclastic sequence (30–90 km3 DRE volume), erupted from Ilopango caldera, El Salvador, in 431 CE, is the product of one of the largest eruptions of the last two millennia. The eruption devastated Central America's Mayan civilization. The eruption began with a short-lived phase of ash and pumice fall deposition and transitioned to a ‘wet’ explosive phase during whic
Authors
Richard J. Brown, Alexa R. Van Eaton, Walter Hernandez, Pearce Condren, Clare Sweeney, Pierre-Yves Tournigand, James W. Vallance
Lightning rings and gravity waves: Insights into the giant eruption plumefrom Tonga’s Hunga Volcano on 15 January 2022
On 15 January 2022, Hunga Volcano in Tonga produced the most violent eruption in the modern satellite era, sending a water-rich plume at least 58 km high. Using a combination of satellite- and ground-based sensors, we investigate the astonishing rate of volcanic lightning (>2,600 flashes min−1) and what it reveals about the dynamics of the submarine eruption. In map view, lightning locations form
Authors
Alexa R. Van Eaton, Jeff Lapierre, Sonja A. Behnke, Chris Vagasky, Christopher J. Schultz, Michael J. Pavolonis, Kristopher Bedka, Konstantin Khlopenkov
Flow development and entrainment in turbulent particle-laden jets
Explosive eruptions expel volcanic gases and particles at high pressures and velocities. Within this multiphase fluid, small ash particles affect the flow dynamics, impacting mixing, entrainment, turbulence, and aggregation. To examine the role of turbulent particle behavior, we conducted an analogue experiment using a particle-laden jet. We used compressed air as the carrier fluid, considering tu
Authors
Laura K. Shannon, Bianca Viggiano, Raul Bayoan Cal, Larry G. Mastin, Alexa R. Van Eaton, Stephen A. Solovitz
Understanding and modeling tephra transport: Lessons learned from the 18 May 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens
Discoveries made during the 18 May 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens advanced our understanding of tephra transport and deposition in fundamental ways. The eruption enabled detailed, quantitative observations of downwind cloud movement and particle sedimentation, along with the dynamics of co-pyroclastic-density current (PDC) clouds lofted from ground-hugging currents. The deposit was mapped and s
Authors
Larry G. Mastin, Steven Carey, Alexa R. Van Eaton, Julia Eychenne, R.S.J. Sparks
The Independent Volcanic Eruption Source Parameter Archive (IVESPA, version 1.0): A new observational database to support explosive eruptive column model validation and development
Eruptive column models are powerful tools for investigating the transport of volcanic gas and ash, reconstructing past explosive eruptions, and simulating future hazards. However, the evaluation of these models is challenging as it requires independent estimates of the main model inputs (e.g. mass eruption rate) and outputs (e.g. column height). There exists no database of independently estimated
Authors
Thomas J Aubry, Samantha Engwell, Costanza Bonadonna, Guillaume Carazzo, Simona Scollo, Alexa R. Van Eaton, Isabelle A Taylor, David Jessop, Julia Eychenne, Mathieu Gouhier, Larry G. Mastin, Kristi L. Wallace, Sébastien Biass, Marcus Bursik, Roy G Grainger, Mark Jellinek, Anja Schmidt
A probabilistic assessment of tephra-fall hazards at Hanford, Washington, from a future eruption of Mount St. Helens
Hanford, Washington (USA) is the construction site of a multi-billion-dollar high-level nuclear waste treatment facility. This site lies 200 kilometers (km) east of Mount St. Helens (MSH), the most active volcano in the contiguous United States. Tephra from a future MSH eruption could pose a hazard to the air intake and filtration systems at this plant. In this report, we present a probabilistic e
Authors
Larry G. Mastin, Alexa R. Van Eaton, Hans F. Schwaiger
Comparing simulations of umbrella-cloud growth and ash transport with observations from Pinatubo, Kelud, and Calbuco volcanoes
The largest explosive volcanic eruptions produce umbrella clouds that drive ash radially outward, enlarging the area that impacts aviation and ground-based communities. Models must consider the effects of umbrella spreading when forecasting hazards from these eruptions. In this paper we test a version of the advection–dispersion model Ash3d that considers umbrella spreading by comparing its simula
Authors
Larry G. Mastin, Alexa R. Van Eaton
Combining ash analyses with remote sensing to identify juvenile magma involvement and fragmentation mechanisms during the 2018/19 small eruption of Peteroa volcano (Southern Andes)
The Planchón Peteroa Volcanic Complex (PPVC) is located on the border of Chile and Argentina, and is one of the most active volcanic systems in the Andes. Holocene activity has included magma-water interaction with an evolving series of crater lakes, mainly sourced from Peteroa volcano. This study examines data from the 2018/19 eruption, together with the volcanic history of the PPVC, to elucidate
Authors
Jorge E Romero, Felipe Aguilera, Francisco Delgado, Danny Guzmán, Alexa R. Van Eaton, Nicolás Luengo, Javiera Caro, Jorge Bustillos, Alicia Guevara, Sven Holbik, Daniel Tormey, Iver Zegarra
Science and Products
Data used to develop a probabilistic assessment of tephra-fall hazards at Hanford, Washington
Data in this data release contain Model input and output for simulations used to estimate the amount of tephra that could fall on the Hanford nuclear waste repository. The results of that study were written up in the report: Mastin, L.G., Van Eaton, A.E., and Schwaiger, H.F., 2020 A Probabilistic Assessment of Tephra-Fall Hazards at Hanford, Washington, from a Future Eruption of Mount St. Helens,
Observations and model simulations of umbrella-cloud growth during eruptions of Mount Pinatubo (Philippines, June 15, 1991), Kelud Volcano (Indonesia, February 14, 2014), and Calbuco Volcano (Chile, April 22-23, 2015)
Model output to accompany the paper "Comparing Simulations of Umbrella-Cloud Growth and Ash Transport with Observations from Pinatubo, Kelud, and Calbuco Volcanoes", by L.G. Mastin and Alexa Van Eaton, published by the journal Atmosphere. The data release includes model input and output used to generate figures in the paper. Reference: Mastin, L.G., and Van Eaton, A.R., 2020, Comparing Simulation
Filter Total Items: 34
Special topic—Eruption plumes and clouds
IntroductionExplosive eruptions create plumes of volcanic ash and gas that can rise more than 30,000 feet (9.1 kilometers [km]) above sea level within minutes of eruption onset. The resulting clouds disperse under prevailing winds and may cause hazardous conditions hundreds to thousands of kilometers from the volcano, including in international airspace. Rapid detection and characterization of exp
Authors
David J. Schneider, Alexa R. Van Eaton
Did steam boost the height and growth rate of the giant Hunga eruption plume?
The eruption of Hunga volcano on 15 January 2022 produced a higher plume and faster-growing umbrella cloud than has ever been previously recorded. The plume height exceeded 58 km, and the umbrella grew to 450 km in diameter within 50 min. Assuming an umbrella thickness of 10 km, this growth rate implied an average volume injection rate into the umbrella of 330–500 km3 s−1. Conventional relationshi
Authors
Larry G. Mastin, Alexa R. Van Eaton, Shane Cronin
A one-dimensional volcanic plume model for predicting ash aggregation
During explosive volcanic eruptions, volcanic ash is ejected into the atmosphere, impacting aircraft safety and downwind communities. These volcanic clouds tend to be dominated by fine ash (<63 μm in diameter), permitting transport over hundreds to thousands of kilometers. However, field observations show that much of this fine ash aggregates into clusters or pellets with faster settling velocitie
Authors
Davis W. Hoffman, Larry G. Mastin, Alexa R. Van Eaton, Stephen A. Solovitz, Raul B. Cal, John K. Eaton
New insights into the relationship between mass eruption rate and volcanic column height based on the IVESPA dataset
Rapid and simple estimation of the mass eruption rate (MER) from column height is essential for real-time volcanic hazard management and reconstruction of past explosive eruptions. Using 134 eruptive events from the new Independent Volcanic Eruption Source Parameter Archive (IVESPA, v1.0), we explore empirical MER-height relationships for four measures of column height: spreading level, sulfur dio
Authors
Thomas J. Aubry, Samantha Engwell, Costanza Bonadonna, Larry G. Mastin, Guillaume Carazzo, Alexa R. Van Eaton, David E. Jessop, Roy G. Grainger, Simona Scollo, Isabelle A Taylor, A. Mark Jellinek, Anja Schmidt, Sebastien Biass, Mathieu Gouhier
Ash aggregate-rich pyroclastic density currents of the 431 CE Tierra Blanca Joven eruption, Ilopango caldera, El Salvador
The VEI 6, Tierra Blanca Joven pyroclastic sequence (30–90 km3 DRE volume), erupted from Ilopango caldera, El Salvador, in 431 CE, is the product of one of the largest eruptions of the last two millennia. The eruption devastated Central America's Mayan civilization. The eruption began with a short-lived phase of ash and pumice fall deposition and transitioned to a ‘wet’ explosive phase during whic
Authors
Richard J. Brown, Alexa R. Van Eaton, Walter Hernandez, Pearce Condren, Clare Sweeney, Pierre-Yves Tournigand, James W. Vallance
Lightning rings and gravity waves: Insights into the giant eruption plumefrom Tonga’s Hunga Volcano on 15 January 2022
On 15 January 2022, Hunga Volcano in Tonga produced the most violent eruption in the modern satellite era, sending a water-rich plume at least 58 km high. Using a combination of satellite- and ground-based sensors, we investigate the astonishing rate of volcanic lightning (>2,600 flashes min−1) and what it reveals about the dynamics of the submarine eruption. In map view, lightning locations form
Authors
Alexa R. Van Eaton, Jeff Lapierre, Sonja A. Behnke, Chris Vagasky, Christopher J. Schultz, Michael J. Pavolonis, Kristopher Bedka, Konstantin Khlopenkov
Flow development and entrainment in turbulent particle-laden jets
Explosive eruptions expel volcanic gases and particles at high pressures and velocities. Within this multiphase fluid, small ash particles affect the flow dynamics, impacting mixing, entrainment, turbulence, and aggregation. To examine the role of turbulent particle behavior, we conducted an analogue experiment using a particle-laden jet. We used compressed air as the carrier fluid, considering tu
Authors
Laura K. Shannon, Bianca Viggiano, Raul Bayoan Cal, Larry G. Mastin, Alexa R. Van Eaton, Stephen A. Solovitz
Understanding and modeling tephra transport: Lessons learned from the 18 May 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens
Discoveries made during the 18 May 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens advanced our understanding of tephra transport and deposition in fundamental ways. The eruption enabled detailed, quantitative observations of downwind cloud movement and particle sedimentation, along with the dynamics of co-pyroclastic-density current (PDC) clouds lofted from ground-hugging currents. The deposit was mapped and s
Authors
Larry G. Mastin, Steven Carey, Alexa R. Van Eaton, Julia Eychenne, R.S.J. Sparks
The Independent Volcanic Eruption Source Parameter Archive (IVESPA, version 1.0): A new observational database to support explosive eruptive column model validation and development
Eruptive column models are powerful tools for investigating the transport of volcanic gas and ash, reconstructing past explosive eruptions, and simulating future hazards. However, the evaluation of these models is challenging as it requires independent estimates of the main model inputs (e.g. mass eruption rate) and outputs (e.g. column height). There exists no database of independently estimated
Authors
Thomas J Aubry, Samantha Engwell, Costanza Bonadonna, Guillaume Carazzo, Simona Scollo, Alexa R. Van Eaton, Isabelle A Taylor, David Jessop, Julia Eychenne, Mathieu Gouhier, Larry G. Mastin, Kristi L. Wallace, Sébastien Biass, Marcus Bursik, Roy G Grainger, Mark Jellinek, Anja Schmidt
A probabilistic assessment of tephra-fall hazards at Hanford, Washington, from a future eruption of Mount St. Helens
Hanford, Washington (USA) is the construction site of a multi-billion-dollar high-level nuclear waste treatment facility. This site lies 200 kilometers (km) east of Mount St. Helens (MSH), the most active volcano in the contiguous United States. Tephra from a future MSH eruption could pose a hazard to the air intake and filtration systems at this plant. In this report, we present a probabilistic e
Authors
Larry G. Mastin, Alexa R. Van Eaton, Hans F. Schwaiger
Comparing simulations of umbrella-cloud growth and ash transport with observations from Pinatubo, Kelud, and Calbuco volcanoes
The largest explosive volcanic eruptions produce umbrella clouds that drive ash radially outward, enlarging the area that impacts aviation and ground-based communities. Models must consider the effects of umbrella spreading when forecasting hazards from these eruptions. In this paper we test a version of the advection–dispersion model Ash3d that considers umbrella spreading by comparing its simula
Authors
Larry G. Mastin, Alexa R. Van Eaton
Combining ash analyses with remote sensing to identify juvenile magma involvement and fragmentation mechanisms during the 2018/19 small eruption of Peteroa volcano (Southern Andes)
The Planchón Peteroa Volcanic Complex (PPVC) is located on the border of Chile and Argentina, and is one of the most active volcanic systems in the Andes. Holocene activity has included magma-water interaction with an evolving series of crater lakes, mainly sourced from Peteroa volcano. This study examines data from the 2018/19 eruption, together with the volcanic history of the PPVC, to elucidate
Authors
Jorge E Romero, Felipe Aguilera, Francisco Delgado, Danny Guzmán, Alexa R. Van Eaton, Nicolás Luengo, Javiera Caro, Jorge Bustillos, Alicia Guevara, Sven Holbik, Daniel Tormey, Iver Zegarra