This chapter presents the monitoring of the 2008 Chaitén eruption cloud using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data and its impacts. The 8-day MODIS data from 3 to 10 May 2008 were used to track the movement and dispersion of the eruption cloud of the Chaitén volcano in Chile following the eruption on 2 May 2008. For detecting volcanic particulates, the procedure is adopted based on the brightness temperature difference (BTD) algorithm, by which the thermal infrared channels were centered on 11–12 μm of multispectral satellite sensors. The BTD is generally negative for volcanic ash but positive for ice and water vapor. The eruption cloud was found to drift northeastward, eastward, and southeastward crossing the central and northern part of Argentina and over the Atlantic Ocean. The timing of heavy rainfall in South Africa during May–June, in central Australia during June 2008 and in Hong Kong during June (the wettest since record began in 1884), was considered to have been connected to the dispersion of the particulates from this Chaitén eruption to further impact downstream.
Part of the book: Geospatial Technology