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Eruption of Mount Etna

By Scott Bachmeier •

Meteosat-11 Ash Height images [click to play animation | MP4]

Meteosat-11 Ash Height images [click to play animation | MP4]

EUMETSAT Meteosat-11 Ash Height retrievals from the NOAA/CIMSS Volcanic Cloud Monitoring site (above) showed that an eruption of Mount Etna in Sicily, Italy on 24 March 2021 produced an ash cloud which rose to heights of 7-8 km (darker shade of green).

The corresponding Meteosat-11 Ash Loading images are shown below — ash loading appeared to be light to moderate within much of the volcanic cloud.

Meteosat-11 Ash Loading images [click to play animation | MP4]

Meteosat-11 Ash Loading images [click to play animation | MP4]

Ash Loading values retrieved using Suomi NPP VIIRS data at at 1200 UTC (below) were notably higher than those from Meteosat-11, given the higher spatial resolution and additional spectral band data available from the VIIRS instrument.

Suomi NPP VIIRS Ash Loading at 1200 UTC [click to enlarge]

Suomi NPP VIIRS Ash Loading at 1200 UTC [click to enlarge]

A toggle between VIIRS True Color RGB images from NOAA-20 and Suomi NPP as viewed using RealEarth (below) revealed hues of tan to light brown within the volcanic plume, further supporting the presence of an elevated ash content.

VIIRS True Color RGB images from NOAA-20 and Suomi NPP [click to enlarge]

VIIRS True Color RGB images from NOAA-20 and Suomi NPP [click to enlarge]

Categories: Meteosat, NOAA-20, RealEarth, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images, Suomi NPP, VIIRS, Volcanic activity