Volcanic activity « CIMSS Satellite Blog

Fire and Ice, as viewed by GOES-11

March 9th, 2011

GOES-11 3.9 µm shortwave IR images (click image to play animation)

A fissure eruption on the Kilauea volcano on the island of Hawaii began on 05 March 2011 — and 3 days later, McIDAS images of GOES-11 3.9 µm shortwave IR data (above; click image to play animation) displayed a prominent “hot spot” (yellow to red enhanced pixels) during the day on 08 March 2011.

GOES-11 0.65 µm visible images (below; click image to play animation) showed the hazy summit plume spreading southwestward during the day. This volcanic plume contained high levels of sulphur dioxide (SO2), as seen on an image of OMI total column SO2 (courtesy of NOAA/NESDIS).

GOES-11 0.65 µm visible images (click image to play animation)

About 3000 miles (4800 km ) to the north, GOES-11 0.65 µm visible images (below; click image to play animation) showed the movement of ice in the Bering Sea west of Alaska. Note that the motion of the ice was toward the northeast early in the animation, but then changed to motion toward the southwest later in the day. Surface winds along with tidal currents in the Bering Sea have an influence on the overall motion of the ice.

GOES-11 0.65 µm visible images (click image to play animation)

The motion of the ice in the Bering Sea could also be seen on a sequence of AWIPS images of POES AVHRR 0.86 µm visible channel data (below).

POES AVHRR 0.86 µm visible images

The POES AVHRR Sea Surface Temperature (SST) product (below) indicated that SST values were in the low to middle 30f F (darker blue color enhancement) in the ice-free water south and west of the ice edge.

POES AVHRR Sea Surface Temperature product

Posted in Air quality, Arctic, AVHRR, Fire detection, GOES-11, POES, Volcanic activity | No Comments »

“Hot spot” from the eruption of the Tungurahua volcano in Ecuador

December 4th, 2010

GOES-13 (left) and GOES-12 (right) 3.9 µm shortwave IR images

McIDAS images of GOES-13 and GOES-12 3.9 µm shortwave IR (IR channel 2) data (above) revealed the “hot spot” (yellow to red color enhancement) due to the eruption of the Tungurahua volcano in the South American country of Ecuador on 04 December 2010. The summit of the volcano is located south-southeast of the city of Latacunga (station identifier SELT). According to an ash advisory issued by the Washington DC Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC), ash was estimated to be extending upward to altitudes about 26,000 feet around this time.

Note that at times there are sight differences in the size and intensity of the volcano hot spot, due to the different viewing angles from the GOES-13 satellite (located at 75º West longitude) and the GOES-12 satellite (located at 60º West longitude). Also note the improved image navigation and registration (INR) with GOES-13, which keeps the volcano hot spot centered at the same location during the image animation.

Posted in GOES-12, GOES-13, Volcanic activity | No Comments »

Another significant volcanic ash plume from Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland

May 6th, 2010

Meteosat-9 SEVIRI volcanic ash retreival products

Meteosat-9 SEVIRI volcanic ash retrieval products

The Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull (which started to become active again in late March 2010) continued to remain active into early May, with another significant plume being observed on 06 May 2010. EUMETSAT Meteosat-9 SEVIRI volcanic ash retrieval products (above) showed a plume streaming southeastward from Iceland, with the maximum ash cloud height reaching 17.27 km. These volcanic ash retrieval products provide a demonstration of the type of products that will be available with the ABI instrument on the GOES-R satellite — they are available in near-realtime on the CIMSS GOES-R Proving Ground site.

A Terra MODIS Red/Green/Blue (RGB) image (using bands 01/04/03) shows the brown ash plume curving southeastward and then southward over the eastern Atlantic Ocean (below).