Geometric estimation of volcanic eruption column height from GOES-R near-limb imagery – Part 1: Methodology

• Published in: Atmospheric chemistry and physics Vol. 21; no. 16; pp. 12189 - 12206
• Main Authors: Horváth, Ákos, Carr, James L, Girina, Olga A, Wu, Dong L, Bril, Alexey A, Mazurov, Alexey A, Melnikov, Dmitry V, Hoshyaripour, Gholam Ali, Buehler, Stefan A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Katlenburg-Lindau Copernicus GmbH 16-08-2021; Copernicus Publications
• Subjects: Brightness temperature; Case studies; Diamonds; Geometry; Height; Imagery; Plumes; Satellite observation; Satellites; Stratosphere; Surface radiation temperature; Temperature inversion; Temperature inversions; Tropopause; Volcanic eruptions; Volcanoes
• ISSN: 1680-7324; 1680-7316; 1680-7324
• DOI: 10.5194/acp-21-12189-2021

A geometric technique is introduced to estimate the
height of volcanic eruption columns using the generally discarded near-limb
portion of geostationary imagery. Such oblique observations facilitate a
height-by-angle estimation method by offering close-to-orthogonal side views of eruption columns protruding from the Earth ellipsoid. Coverage is
restricted to daytime point estimates in the immediate vicinity of the vent, which nevertheless can provide complementary constraints on source
conditions for the modeling of near-field plume evolution. The technique is best suited to strong eruption columns with minimal tilting in the radial
direction. For weak eruptions with severely bent plumes or eruptions with
expanded umbrella clouds the radial tilt/expansion has to be corrected for
either visually or using ancillary wind profiles. Validation on a large set
of mountain peaks indicates a typical height uncertainty of ±500 m
for near-vertical eruption columns, which compares favorably with the
accuracy of the common temperature method.