CIMSS Satellite Blog

Himawari-8 True Color RGB images [click to play animation | MP4]

JMA Himawari-8 True Color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images created using Geo2Grid (above) displayed the gray to tan hues of a narrow west-to-east oriented volcanic ash cloud following an eruption of Mount Sinabung on 10 August 2020.

A sequence of Terra MODIS False Color RGB, Ash Probability, Ash Loading, Ash Height and Ash Effective Radius products from the NOAA/CIMSS Volcanic Cloud Monitoring site (below) showed the characteristics of the ash plume at 0415 UTC.

Terra MODIS False Color RGB, Ash Probability, Ash Loading, Ash Height and Ash Effective Radius [click to enlarge]

A plot of 00 UTC rawinsonde data from Medan (below) helped to explain the different ash height and ash transport characteristics — the higher-altitude portion of the ash plume was transported westward by easterly flow above the 500 hPa (5.9 km) level, while the lower-altitude portion moved eastward due to westerly winds below 500 hPa.

Plot of 00 UTC rawinsonde data from Medan, Indonesia [click to enlarge]

from CIMSS Satellite Blog https://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/satellite-blog/archives/37950