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Eruption of Mount Marapi in West Sumatra

By Scott Bachmeier •

JMA Himawari-9 True Color RGB images, from 0750 UTC to 1050 UTC on 03 December [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

JMA Himawari-9 True Color RGB images created using Geo2Grid (above) showed the ash-laden (darker shades of gray) volcanic cloud produced by an eruption of Mount Marapi that began at 0754 UTC on 03 December 2023. The final advisory issued by the Darwin VAAC estimated that ash extended to 50000 ft (15.2 km).

A radiometrically retrieved Volcanic Ash Height product from the NOAA/CIMSS Volcanic Cloud Monitoring site (below) indicated that maximum ash heights were in the 14-16 km range.

Volcanic Ash Height derived product [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

In addition, the volcanic cloud had high levels of Ash Loading, consisting of particles having a large Ash Effective Radius (below). Significant ash fall occurred in a number of nearby villages.

Volcanic Ash Loading derived product [click to play animated GIF | MP4]


Volcanic Ash Effective Radius derived product [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

In Himawari-9 False Color RGB images that incorporated the 8.5 µm spectral band (below), brighter shades of green indicated a mixture of SO2 and Ash within the volcanic cloud.

Himawari-9 False Color RGB images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

Categories: Himawari-9, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images, Volcanic activity