Improvements in Volcanic Ash detection with Himawari-8
Himawari-8 False Color Imagery during an eruption of Klyuchevskoy Volcano, 0230 UTC 25 January 2015. Colors derived from bands as indicated (Click to enlarge)
Satellite data are used routinely to monitor Volcanoes for eruptions that can be potential aviation hazards. The Himawari-8 false-color image, above, derived from Himawari-8 AHI data, includes a volcanic plume that, even without the image annotation, is easy to detect. Consider the same scene, below, derived from MTSAT-2 imagery. The volcanic plume is far more difficult to discern. The superior spatial resolution on Himawari-8 IR channel data (2-km, vs 5-km on MTSAT) allows for better detection of this ash plume from Klyuchevskoy.
MTSAT-2 False Color Imagery during an eruption of Klyuchevskoy Volcano, 0232 UTC 25 January 2015. Colors derived from bands as indicated (Click to enlarge)