In order to research the influence on the Japanese Islands of the volcanic gas emitted from Miyakejima volcano that was reactivated in August of 2000, analyses on atmospheric sulfur compounds were conducted using the data monitored in 10 monitoring sites of the National Acid Deposition Monitoring Network. The 10 sites are located in remote or rural areas in Japan. The target period was set for 2 years from August 1999 to July 2001 including one year before the eruption and one year after the eruption. Deposition velocities were calculated using a resistance model based on Wesely's parameterization to estimate the dry depositions.
Increases of SO
2 concentrations caused by the emission of the volcanic gas correlated with frequencies of air inflows from Miyakejima, and the increase was marked primarily in central Japan, and secondarily in western Japan. Since there is little air inflow to the Hokkaido area, no clear increases of SO
2 concentration in the area were observed, compared with central and western Japan. SO
2 dry deposition at Tanzawa, Happo and Sado-seki located in central Japan increased 3 or more times, in particular 6 or more times at Tanzawa, after the eruption. Concerning wet deposition of nss-sulfate, there were also marked increases in central Japan. Wet deposition of nss-sulfate at Tanzawa, Happo and Sado-seki increased 1.5 or more times after the eruption. The relation between increments of dry/wet deposition and distances from Miyakejima at the 3 sites indicated that the influence on wet deposition distributed to a wider area than that of the dry deposition. A series of monthly-accumulated sulfur depositions indicated that the influence on an area near Miyakejima appeared to be marked for several months after the eruption because of the initial huge SO
2 emission, while the continuously high SO
2 emissions for a year after the eruption produced higher rates of increases in a wide area and over a long period of time.
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