Observations of volcanic ash clouds in the 10-12 μm window using AVHRR/2 data

Abstract

Volcanic aerosols are always present in the atmosphere, but because of the nature of volcanic activity their abundance varies greatly with time. The problem of detecting and monitoring volcanic ash clouds using radiance measurements from the AVHRR/2 (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer) instrument is discussed and some results are presented for the Galunggung eruptions of July 1982. It is shown that during the first few hours of an explosive eruption AVHRR/2 thermal channel measurements can be used to detect and discriminate volcanic clouds. Once the eruption cloud has spread and thinned out however, the problem of detection is difficult because of the similarity between dispersed volcanic cloud and semi-transparent cirrus. In these cases, if the volcanic cloud consists of liquid H₂SO₄ droplets, then it is possible to discriminate them from water/ice clouds because of the reverse absorption effect in channel-4 and channel-5. Some evidence is presented showing this effect. It is proposed that the temperature difference image be used operationally to warn of the presence of volcanic clouds.