Eruption of the Kuchinoerabu-jima volcano in Japan
Himawari-8 AHI 0.64 µm visible channel images (click to play animation)
The Kuchinoerabu-jima volcano in Japan experienced a violent eruption beginning around 00:59 UTC on 29 May 2015 — the expanding volcanic cloud was captured by 0.5-km resolution Himawari-8 AHI 0.64 µm visible channel images (above; click image to play animation; also available as an MP4 movie file). A mid-layer volcanic cloud was seen moving to the west-northwest, while a high-altitude plume spread out as it moved east-southeastward.
About an hour after the eruption, Terra MODIS products at 0205 UTC from the SSEC Volcanic Cloud Monitoring site are shown below. Retrieved volcanic Ash Probabilities were very high for both cloud segments; for the southeastern cloud segment, the maximum volcanic Ash Height was in the 10-12 km range, volcanic Ash Loading was high, and the largest Ash Effective Radius values were in the 8-10 um range.
Terra MODIS false-color RGB image
Volcanic Ash Probability product
Volcanic Ash Height product
Volcanic Ash Loading product
Volcanic Ash Effective Radius product