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Eruption of Popocatépetl in Mexico

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-16 Low-, Mid- and Upper-level Water Vapor (7.3 µm, 6.9 µm and 6.2 µm), Split Window Difference (10.3-12.3 µm) and Cloud Top Height product [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 Low-, Mid- and Upper-level Water Vapor (7.3 µm, 6.9 µm and 6.2 µm), Split Window Difference (10.3-12.3 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

Popocatépetl erupted at 1226 UTC on 09 January 2019 — GOES-16 (GOES-East) images of Low-level (7.3 µm), Mid-level (6.9 µm) and Upper-level Water Vapor (6.2 µm) and Split Window Difference (10.3-12.3 µm) (above) showed a higher-altitude ash plume moving rapidly south-southeastward, while ash at a lower altitude moved slowly north-northeastward.

The difference in speed and direction of ash transport was explained by plots of rawinsonde data from Mexico City and Acapulco at 12 UTC (below), which revealed stronger northwesterly winds within the 200-250 hPa pressure layer, with lighter southerly to southwesterly winds existing between 400 and 600 hPa.

Plots of rawinsonde data from Mexico City and Acapulco at 12 UTC [click to enlarge]

Plots of rawinsonde data from Mexico City (yellow) and Acapulco (cyan) at 12 UTC [click to enlarge]

At 1402 UTC a Mesoscale Domain Sector was positioned over Mexico — and 1-minute GOES-16 Ash RGB images created using Geo2Grid (below) tracked the distinct signature of the northern lower-altitude ash (brighter shades of pink to red) while the southern higher-altitude ash signature faded as it was more quickly dispersed by the stronger winds.

GOES-16 Ash RGB images {click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 Ash RGB images [click to play animation | MP4]

A GOES-16 Ash Height product from the NOAA/CIMSS Volcanic Cloud Monitoring site (below) indicated that the southern ash plume exhibited heights in the 6-8 km range, with similar heights seen for the slow-moving northern ash feature.

GOES-16 Ash Height product [click to play animation MP4]

GOES-16 Ash Height product [click to play animation MP4]

Categories: GOES-16, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images, Volcanic activity