Skip to content

Using Google Earth Engine as a tool for estimating volcanic cloud-top height based on GOES imagery: a case study at the remote Sangay volcano, Ecuador

Anais Vásconez Müller1; Camilo Naranjo2; Benjamin Bernard1; Stefano Corradini2

  • Affiliations:  1Instituto Geofísico, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Quito, Ecuador; 2Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Osservatorio Nazionale Terremoti, Roma, Italy 

  • Presentation type: Poster

  • Presentation time: Monday 16:30 - 18:30, Room Poster Hall

  • Poster Board Number: 136

  • Programme No: 3.1.28

  • Theme 3 > Session 1

Abstract

Sangay, the most active volcano in the Ecuadorian Andes, has been continuously erupting since the XVII century. During its current eruptive period, which started in 2019, several paroxysmal events with ash columns reaching 8--15 km above sea level have caused regional ash fall, negatively impacting communities and temporarily shutting down Guayaquil International Airport. Here, we evaluate the feasibility of applying a novel Google Earth Engine code to GOES imagery to estimate and track volcanic cloud-top height of various paroxysmal events at Sangay volcano between 2020 and 2024. The dark pixel method was implemented for the cloud-top height estimation. The cloud-top temperature, taken from the 10.3 µm GOES infrared band, is matched to the corresponding atmospheric profile from NOAA's global model, assuming a thermal equilibrium between the cloud-top and the surrounding air in the atmosphere. Moreover, this well-known method was implemented in Google Earth Engine, as this open-source platform offers several advantages, such as enabling online, cloud-based processing of large datasets, providing easy access to both current and archived data, and featuring a user-friendly interface suitable even for non-coding experts. Ash cloud heights obtained through this methodology for paroxysmal events of varying characteristics were compared to Washington VAAC advisories, demonstrating that Google Earth Engine is a powerful tool for rapidly and continuously estimating ash cloud heights and enabling a detailed study of explosive eruptive events. This tool could be easily implemented at Volcano Observatories as an additional method for monitoring erupting volcanoes, providing valuable quantitative information regarding volcanic ash hazards.