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Enhanced Monitoring of Volcanic Emissions with the Geostationary UV Satellite Constellation

Simon Carn 1, Can Li2, Bradford Fisher3, Nickolay Krotkov2 ^ ^

  • Affiliations: 1Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, USA 2NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA 3Science Systems and Applications, Inc. (SSAI), Lanham, MD, USA   

  • Presentation type: Talk

  • Presentation time: Friday 15:00 - 15:15, Room S150

  • Programme No: 3.17.8

  • Theme 3 > Session 17

Abstract

Satellite measurements of volcanic sulfur dioxide (SO2) and ash emissions support volcanic hazard mitigation, permit assessment of the potential climate impacts of eruptions, and provide insight into volcanic processes. Until recently, a shortcoming of ultraviolet (UV) satellite observations was low temporal resolution. However, since 2020 a new Geostationary UV Air Quality (GEO-AQ) satellite constellation has been deployed, including the South Korean Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) instrument, NASA's Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO), and the forthcoming ESA/Sentinel-4 mission. GEO-AQ satellites have initiated a new era of hyperspectral UV monitoring of volcanic emissions in East Asia, North America and Europe with unprecedented (hourly) temporal resolution. Prior to GEO-AQ, insight into the value of high-cadence UV satellite observations was also provided by the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC), aboard the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) at the first Earth-Sun Lagrange point (L1) since 2015. DSCOVR/EPIC provided the first hourly UV observations of SO2 and ash emissions from numerous volcanic eruptions, demonstrating the advantages of the increased temporal resolution now becoming available from GEO-AQ sensors. Here, we use operational SO2 data products from DSCOVR/EPIC and GEMS and preliminary TEMPO SO2 retrievals to highlight volcanological applications of GEO-AQ observations, including measurement of hourly variations in SO2 emission rates, improved monitoring of multi-phase eruptions, constraints on umbrella cloud growth rates during explosive eruptions, and enhanced detection of small eruptions. Synergy between geostationary UV and infrared (IR) measurements of volcanic activity also has the potential to elucidate volcanic processes and improve satellite-based volcano monitoring.