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The May 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-3 Visible (0.65 µm) images at 1545 and 1615 UTC [click to enlarge]

GOES-3 Visible (0.65 µm) images at 1545 and 1615 UTC [click to enlarge]

NOAA GOES-3 Visible (0.65 µm) images at 1545 and 1615 UTC (above) showed the volcanic cloud shortly after the explosive eruption of Mount St. Helens on 18 May 1980. GOES-3 was decommissioned in 2016.

The corresponding GOES-3 Infrared (11.5 µm) image at 1545 UTC (below) appeared to display a small “enhanced-V” or cold/warm (-65ºC/-47ºC) thermal couplet signature downwind (east) of the volcanic cloud’s overshooting top.

GOES-3 Infrared (11.5 µm) image at 1545 UTC [click to enlarge]

GOES-3 Infrared (11.5 µm) image at 1545 UTC [click to enlarge]

A comparison of GOES-3 Visible and Infrared images (below) showed that a large portion of the volcanic cloud exhibited IR brightness temperatures of -60ºC or colder (darker red color enhancement) as the feature moved rapidly eastward during the first 10 hours following the eruption.

GOES-3 Visible (0.65 µm, top) and Infrared Window (11.5 µm, bottom) images [click to play animation]

GOES-3 Visible (0.65 µm, top) and Infrared (11.5 µm, bottom) images [click to play animation]

The volcanic cloud was also captured on NASA SMS-2 Visible (0.62 µm) and Infrared (11.6 µm) imagery (below). An animation that cycles through both SMS-2 Visible and Infrared images can be seen here.

NASA SMS 2 Visible (0.62 µm) images (credit: Tim Schmit, ASPB/CIMSS) [click to play MP4 anmation]

NASA SMS-2 Visible (0.62 µm) images (credit: Tim Schmit, ASPB/CIMSS) [click to play MP4 animation]

NASA SMS 2 Infrared (11.6 µm) images (credit: Tim Schmit, ASPB/CIMSS) [click to play MP4 animation]

NASA SMS-2 Infrared (11.6 µm) images (credit: Tim Schmit, ASPB/CIMSS) [click to play MP4 animation]

SMS-2 “Visible/Infrared Sandwich” Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images are shown below.

NASA SMS-2 Visible/Infrared Sandwich RGB images (credit: Tim Schmit, ASPB/CIMSS) [click to play MP4 animation]

NASA SMS-2 Visible/Infrared Sandwich RGB images (credit: Tim Schmit, ASPB/CIMSS) [click to play MP4 animation]

Archived GOES-3 and SMS-2 imagery was provided by SSEC Satellite Data Services.

The ability to monitor volcanic ash plumes and their attributes has greatly improved from 1980 to today — moving from qualitative (somewhat after the fact imagery) to quantitative applications (that are more frequent, and therefore much more timely!). Due to the large number of volcanoes worldwide, satellite observations are key in monitoring the Earth’s volcanoes for aviation safety and other applications. More on volcanic cloud monitoring.

Categories: GOES-3, Historical, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images, Volcanic activity