New Insights Into the Relationship Between Mass Eruption Rate and Volcanic Column Height Based On the IVESPA Data Set

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 dioxide height, and top height from direct observations and as reconstructed from deposits. These relationships show significant differences and highlight limitations of empirical models currently used in operational and research applications. The roles of atmospheric stratification, wind, and humidity remain challenging to detect across the wide range of eruptive conditions spanned in IVESPA, ultimately resulting in empirical relationships outperforming analytical models that account for atmospheric conditions. This finding highlights challenges in constraining the MER‐height relation using heterogeneous observations and empirical models, which reinforces the need for improved eruption source parameter data sets and physics‐based models. Plain Language Summary Explosive volcanic eruptions expel gas and tephra in the form of a volcanic column (or plume) that rises into the atmosphere. Two important metrics characterizing these eruptions are the maximum rise height and the eruptive intensity, that is, the rate at which material is emitted from the eruptive vent. Understanding the relationship between these parameters is critical for reconstructing past volcanic events and managing hazards during volcanic crises. In this study, we use a new database of well‐characterized eruptions to constrain simple relationships between column height and eruptive intensity. We distinguish four different measurements of column height: the maximum height reached by tephra from observations and from analysis of deposits, the height at which ash spreads in the atmosphere, and the height reached by volcanic sulfur gases. We show that each height category has a distinct relationship with the eruption intensity, enabling volcanologists and risk managers to use the relationship most appropriate to the measurements available to them. Despite the improved level of detail, our data set cannot resolve any systematic influence of atmospheric conditions such as wind and humidity on eruption column height, highlighting difficulties in measuring volcanic eruption characteristics and understanding th