This website works best with a newer web browser such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Microsoft Edge. Internet Explorer is not supported by this website.

CIMSS Satellite Blog

MENU

Explosive eruption of the Hayli Gubbi volcano in Ethiopia

By Scott Bachmeier •

Meteosat-10 SO2 RGB images [click to play MP4 animation]

A Meteosat-10 SO2 RGB product from the NOAA/CIMSS Volcanic Cloud Monitoring site (above) showed the signature of a large volcanic cloud following the explosive eruption of Hayli Gubbi in Ethiopia on 23 November 2025. The shades of green exhibited by the larger eastward-moving cloud indicated a mixture of volcanic ash and SO2 — while the shades of pink exhibited by the smaller northwest-moving cloud indicated that it was composed primarily ash.

A radiometrically retrieved Meteosat-10 Volcanic Ash Height product (below) indicated that maximum ash heights were in the 18-20 km range.

Meteosat-10 Ash Height derived product [click to play MP4 animation]

A Meteosat-10 Ash Loading derived product (below) indicated that loading was quite high within the larger eastward-moving cloud, and generally low to moderate within the smaller northwest-moving cloud.

Meteosat-10 Ash Loading derived product [click to play MP4 animation]

A Meteosat-10 Ash Effective Radius product (below) depicted the presence of lager ash particles within the eastward-moving cloud, in contrast to smaller ash particles within the northwest-moving cloud.

Meteosat-10 Ash Effective Radius derived product [click to play MP4 animation]

A Volcanic Ash Height product derived using higher-spatial-resolution VIIRS data from NOAA-21, Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20 (below) indicated that maximum ash heights were in the 16-18 km range — which were closer to the values listed in volcanic ash advisories from the Toulouse VAAC.

Ash Height derived product using VIIRS data from NOAA-21, Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20 [click to enlarge]

Categories: NOAA-20, NOAA-21, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images, Suomi NPP