Remote observations of eruptive clouds and surface thermal activity during the 2009 eruption of Redoubt volcano

Volcanoes often erupt explosively and generate a variety of hazards including volcanic ash clouds and gaseous plumes. These clouds and plumes are a significant hazard to the aviation industry and the ground features can be a major hazard to local communities. Here, we provide a chronology of the 200...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of volcanology and geothermal research Vol. 259; pp. 185 - 200
Main Authors:	Webley, P.W., Lopez, T.M., Ekstrand, A.L., Dean, K.G., Rinkleff, P., Dehn, J., Cahill, C.F., Wessels, R.L., Bailey, J.E., Izbekov, P., Worden, A.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Elsevier B.V 01-06-2013
Subjects:	Ash clouds Redoubt Volcano Remote sensing Thermal infrared INE, USA, Alaska, Cook Inlet Redoubt Volcano Ash clouds Thermal infrared Remote sensing
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	Volcanoes often erupt explosively and generate a variety of hazards including volcanic ash clouds and gaseous plumes. These clouds and plumes are a significant hazard to the aviation industry and the ground features can be a major hazard to local communities. Here, we provide a chronology of the 2009 Redoubt Volcano eruption using frequent, low spatial resolution thermal infrared (TIR), mid-infrared (MIR) and ultraviolet (UV) satellite remote sensing data. The first explosion of the 2009 eruption of Redoubt Volcano occurred on March 15, 2009 (UTC) and was followed by a series of magmatic explosive events starting on March 23 (UTC). From March 23–April 4 2009, satellites imaged at least 19 separate explosive events that sent ash clouds up to 18km above sea level (ASL) that dispersed ash across the Cook Inlet region. In this manuscript, we provide an overview of the ash clouds and plumes from the 19 explosive events, detailing their cloud-top heights and discussing the variations in infrared absorption signals. We show that the timing of the TIR data relative to the event end time was critical for inferring the TIR derived height and true cloud top height. The ash clouds were high in water content, likely in the form of ice, which masked the negative TIR brightness temperature difference (BTD) signal typically used for volcanic ash detection. The analysis shown here illustrates the utility of remote sensing data during volcanic crises to measure critical real-time parameters, such as cloud-top heights, changes in ground-based thermal activity, and plume/cloud location. ► Thermal infrared satellite remote sensing chronology of 2009 Redoubt eruption. ► Little precursory activity seen in the thermal signal data. ► Little negative brightness temperature difference in ash cloud and plumes. ► Remote sensing data is a critical tool for real-time observations of volcanic activity.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0377-0273 1872-6097
DOI:	10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2012.06.023