Update
Posted by JAC on 2/14/2010, 12:08 pm
The series of 4-panel displays below (provided by Mike Pavolonis, NOAA/NESDIS/ASPB) show AVHRR RGB images along with volcanic ash derived products (ash loading, ash height, and ash effective radius).

Of particular interest was the fact that the maximum ash height decreased rather quickly, from 15.73 km (at 21:02 UTC on 11 February) to 5.58 km (at 06:24 UTC on 12 February) to 4.93 km (at 09:19 UTC on 12 February).











GOES-12 6.5 m water vapor imagery with an overlay of Canadian Meteorological Center 400 hPa winds (below) revealed that an anticyclone was building aloft over the region following the eruption of the Soufriere Hills volcano - this would provide an environment of increasing mid-tropospheric subsidence that could explain the rapid decrease in retrieved volcanic ash heights.

Subsequently, the water vapor image brightness temperature values were also increasing in the area of the building ridge, as seen by the warming trend of brightness temperatures averaging around -20 C (yellow color enhancement) to values averaging around -15 C (orange color enhancement).




40
In this thread:
Montserrat volcano shoots ash 9 miles into sky - JAC, 2/12/2010, 7:18 am
< Return to the front page of the: message board | monthly archive this page is in
Post A Reply
This thread has been archived and can no longer receive replies.