Investigating Volcanic Plumes from Mt. Etna Eruptions of December 2015 by Means of AVHRR and SEVIRI Data
In early December 2015, a rapid sequence of strong paroxysmal events took place at the Mt. Etna crater area (Sicily, Italy). Intense paroxysms from the Voragine crater (VOR) generated an eruptive column extending up to an altitude of about 15 km above sea level. In the following days, other minor as...
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MDPI AG
2019-03-01
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| Series: | Sensors |
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| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/19/5/1174 |
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| author | Francesco Marchese Alfredo Falconieri Carolina Filizzola Nicola Pergola Valerio Tramutoli |
| author_facet | Francesco Marchese Alfredo Falconieri Carolina Filizzola Nicola Pergola Valerio Tramutoli |
| author_sort | Francesco Marchese |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In early December 2015, a rapid sequence of strong paroxysmal events took place at the Mt. Etna crater area (Sicily, Italy). Intense paroxysms from the Voragine crater (VOR) generated an eruptive column extending up to an altitude of about 15 km above sea level. In the following days, other minor ash emissions occurred from summit craters. In this study, we present results achieved by monitoring Mt. Etna plumes by means of RSTASH (Robust Satellite Techniques-Ash) algorithm, running operationally at the Institute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis (IMAA) on Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data. Results showed that RSTASH detected an ash plume dispersing from Mt. Etna towards Ionian Sea starting from 3 December at 08:40 UTC, whereas it did not identify ash pixels on satellite data of same day at 04:20 UTC and 04:40 UTC (acquired soon after the end of first paroxysm from VOR), due to a mixed cloud containing SO2 and ice. During 8–10 December, the continuity of RSTASH detections allowed us to estimate the mass eruption rate (an average value of about 1.5 × 103 kg/s was retrieved here), quantitatively characterizing the eruptive activity from North East Crater (NEC). The work, exploiting information provided also by Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) data, confirms the important contribution offered by RSTASH in identifying and tracking ash plumes emitted from Mt. Etna, despite some operational limitations (e.g., cloud coverage). Moreover, it shows that an experimental RST product, tailored to SEVIRI data, for the first time used and preliminarily assessed here, may complement RSTASH detections providing information about areas mostly affected by volcanic SO2. |
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| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-14T06:35:20Z |
| publishDate | 2019-03-01 |
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| spelling | doaj.art-3c86b1b6d0a940249c6e6aebaf50b5c62022-12-22T02:07:29ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202019-03-01195117410.3390/s19051174s19051174Investigating Volcanic Plumes from Mt. Etna Eruptions of December 2015 by Means of AVHRR and SEVIRI DataFrancesco Marchese0Alfredo Falconieri1Carolina Filizzola2Nicola Pergola3Valerio Tramutoli4Institute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis (IMAA), Italian Research Council (CNR), 85050 Tito Scalo (PZ), ItalyInstitute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis (IMAA), Italian Research Council (CNR), 85050 Tito Scalo (PZ), ItalyInstitute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis (IMAA), Italian Research Council (CNR), 85050 Tito Scalo (PZ), ItalyInstitute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis (IMAA), Italian Research Council (CNR), 85050 Tito Scalo (PZ), ItalySchool of Engineering, University of Basilicata, 85100 Potenza, ItalyIn early December 2015, a rapid sequence of strong paroxysmal events took place at the Mt. Etna crater area (Sicily, Italy). Intense paroxysms from the Voragine crater (VOR) generated an eruptive column extending up to an altitude of about 15 km above sea level. In the following days, other minor ash emissions occurred from summit craters. In this study, we present results achieved by monitoring Mt. Etna plumes by means of RSTASH (Robust Satellite Techniques-Ash) algorithm, running operationally at the Institute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis (IMAA) on Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data. Results showed that RSTASH detected an ash plume dispersing from Mt. Etna towards Ionian Sea starting from 3 December at 08:40 UTC, whereas it did not identify ash pixels on satellite data of same day at 04:20 UTC and 04:40 UTC (acquired soon after the end of first paroxysm from VOR), due to a mixed cloud containing SO2 and ice. During 8–10 December, the continuity of RSTASH detections allowed us to estimate the mass eruption rate (an average value of about 1.5 × 103 kg/s was retrieved here), quantitatively characterizing the eruptive activity from North East Crater (NEC). The work, exploiting information provided also by Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) data, confirms the important contribution offered by RSTASH in identifying and tracking ash plumes emitted from Mt. Etna, despite some operational limitations (e.g., cloud coverage). Moreover, it shows that an experimental RST product, tailored to SEVIRI data, for the first time used and preliminarily assessed here, may complement RSTASH detections providing information about areas mostly affected by volcanic SO2.http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/19/5/1174Mt. Etnaash cloudsAVHRRSEVIRI |
| spellingShingle | Francesco Marchese Alfredo Falconieri Carolina Filizzola Nicola Pergola Valerio Tramutoli Investigating Volcanic Plumes from Mt. Etna Eruptions of December 2015 by Means of AVHRR and SEVIRI Data Sensors Mt. Etna ash clouds AVHRR SEVIRI |
| title | Investigating Volcanic Plumes from Mt. Etna Eruptions of December 2015 by Means of AVHRR and SEVIRI Data |
| title_full | Investigating Volcanic Plumes from Mt. Etna Eruptions of December 2015 by Means of AVHRR and SEVIRI Data |
| title_fullStr | Investigating Volcanic Plumes from Mt. Etna Eruptions of December 2015 by Means of AVHRR and SEVIRI Data |
| title_full_unstemmed | Investigating Volcanic Plumes from Mt. Etna Eruptions of December 2015 by Means of AVHRR and SEVIRI Data |
| title_short | Investigating Volcanic Plumes from Mt. Etna Eruptions of December 2015 by Means of AVHRR and SEVIRI Data |
| title_sort | investigating volcanic plumes from mt etna eruptions of december 2015 by means of avhrr and seviri data |
| topic | Mt. Etna ash clouds AVHRR SEVIRI |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/19/5/1174 |
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