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Eruption of Klyuchevskaya on the Kamchatka Peninsula

By Scott Bachmeier •

JMA Himawari-9 Ash RGB images, from 0000 UTC on 31 October to 2300 UTC on 02 November [click to play MP4 animation]

JMA Himawari-9 Ash RGB images created using Geo2Grid (above) showed the complex transport of Kyluchevskaya volcanic plumes — which were a mixture of ash (shades of pink to red-orange) and SO2 (brighter shades of yellow) — during the 3-day period from 31 October to 02 November 2023. Much of the transport was influenced by a middle-tropospheric closed low that was progressing from Kamchatka toward the Aleutian Islands (500 hPa analyses).

GOES-18 (GOES-West) Air Mass RGB images (below) also depicted the volcanic plume — the portions that were dominated by SO2 exhibited brighter shades of pink (since the Red component of this RGB uses the 7.3 µm spectral band, which is sensitive to SO2 absorption). Volcanic Ash Advisories cautioned aviation interests of ash extending to altitudes of 36000 ft.

GOES-18 Air Mass RGB images, with plots of Pilot Reports (red) and polygons of Volcanic Ash Advisories/Forecasts (cyan/yellow), from 0000 UTC on 31 October to 0140 UTC on 03 November [click to play MP4 animation]

While there were very few Pilot Reports (PIREPs) in the general vicinity of the volcanic plume — since aircraft were wisely avoiding the risk of an ash encounter — there were 3 PIREPs that mentioned Volcanic Ash (VA) (below).

GOES-18 Air Mass RGB image at 0120 UTC on 31 October, with a Pilot Report of a thin Volcanic Ash layer at an altitude of 28000 ft [click to enlarge]

GOES-18 Air Mass RGB image at 2340 UTC on 02 November, with a Pilot Report of a possible Volcanic Ash plume at an altitude of 35000 ft [click to enlarge]

GOES-18 Air Mass RGB image at 0020 UTC on 03 November, with a Pilot Report of faint sulfur odor at Waypoint NATES (latitude/longitude 54°N / 172°E), and haze below an altitude of 28000 ft [click to enlarge]

One of the more explosive events during this prolonged eruption period began around 0220 UTC on 01 November. Radiometrically-retrieved Ash Height and Ash Loading products from the NOAA/CIMSS Volcanic Cloud Monitoring site are shown below — which indicated that the resulting ash-rich volcanic cloud reached heights of 10-12 km.

Himawari-9 Ash Height derived product, from 0200-1200 UTC on 01 November [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

Himawari-9 Ash Loading derived product, from 0200-1200 UTC on 01 November [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

Categories: Aviation, GOES-18, Himawari-9, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images, Volcanic activity