CIMSS Satellite Blog

VIIRS True Color RGB images from NOAA-20 (at 1110 and 1220 UTC) and Suomi NPP (at 1154 UTC) [click to enlarge]

A sequence of VIIRS True Color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images from NOAA-20 and Suomi NPP viewed using RealEarth (above) showed the volcanic ash plume from an eruption of Mount Etna in Italy on 24 December 2018.

A toggle between NOAA-20 VIIRS True Color RGB and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images (below) revealed a colder cloud plume at higher altitude along the southern edge of the tan/brown volcanic ash plume. A thermal anomaly or “hot spot” (dark black pixels) could be seen at the snow-covered volcano summit.

NOAA-20 VIIRS True Color RGB and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images at 1250 UTC [click to enlarge]

The volcanic plume could be quantitatively analyzed using Suomi NPP VIIRS Ash Probability, Ash Height, Ash Loading and Ash Effective Radius products from the NOAA/CIMSS Volcanic Cloud Monitoring site at 1154 UTC (below).

Suomi NPP VIIRS Ash Probability, Ash Height, Ash Loading and Ash Effective Radius at 1154 UTC [click to play enlarge]

Since the bulk of the volcanic plume was high in ash content with minimal water or ice cloud, a good signature was seen using Meteosat-11 Split Window (11-12 µm) Brightness Temperature Difference images (below).

Meteosat-11 Split Window (11.12 µm) Brightness Temperature Difference images [click to play animation]

from CIMSS Satellite Blog http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/blog/archives/31215