Real-time Tracking of Cordon Caulle Volcanic Ash Cloud

The Cordon Caulle volcano in Chile began erupting violently on 4 June 2011, disrupting air traffic over South America and beyond. The Center for Satellite Applications and Research (STAR) and the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) provided near real-time satellite retrievals of ash cloud height, mass loading, and particle size to the volcanic ash operational and research community.

Volcanic ash products developed for the next generation of GOES satellite.

STAR and CIMSS scientists Michael Pavolonis and Justin Sieglaff developed the volcanic ash products in preparation for the next generation Geostationary Environmental Operational Satellite (GOES-R). The Spinning Enhanced Visible/Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) was used as a proxy for GOES-R data.

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