Ash clouds resulting from explosive volcanic eruptions pose a real threat to human (for aircraft flights, airports operations, etc.); therefore, the detection, monitoring, and forecast of their movement is an urgent and important issue. The features and examples of application of the new tool developed on the basis of "Monitoring of active volcanoes of Kamchatka and the Kurile Islands" information system (VolSatView) are described. It allows the integrated monitoring and forecasting of ash cloud transport using the data of remote sensing and mathematical modeling as well as the assessment of the parameters of explosive events.

Satellite based remote sensing of active volcanoes has been performed in various forms since 1965. Compared to “on the ground” observations it lets data to be gathered globally at regular pace for long periods of time without the need for local maintenance. Currently existing publicly available volcanoes thermal activity monitoring systems rely on the detection algorithms narrowly specified for volcanoes temperature ranges and operate using the data from previous generation of sensors, which is supported with non-reserved constellation of two satellites. The presented work proposes pipeline (the sequence of actions) based on the clustering of the data received from the Nightfire thermal anomalies detection algorithm, which is not focused on the specific type of infrared sources. Pipeline has been tested on Kamchatka’s region 2016 year dataset and proved to produce sound results corresponding to manual observations.

The volcanoes of Kamchatka are the most active in the world. Annually, from 3 to 7 volcanoes produce eruptions, during which the explosions eject ash to 10−15 km above sea level, and ash clouds spread thousands of kilometers from volcanoes. Strenuous volcanic activity could cause ash falls in towns and settlements, destruction of forests and communications. Ash clouds and plumes pose a serious threat to the present-day jet aviation. Since 1993, the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) has conducted daily monitoring of Kamchatka volcanoes to mitigate volcanic hazards to airline operations and population. Since 2014, satellite monitoring of volcanoes is carried out by KVERT scientists using the VolSatView information system that since 2016 has utilized data from Himawari-8 geostationary satellite. The system has created special tools that allow us to work with promptly received data, as well as analyze series of long-term observations. Using data from Himawari-8, as well as the tools implemented in VolSatView to work with them, enables to: significantly raise the efficient response to detection of explosive events in the region; identify the onset of eruptive events with an accuracy of 10 minutes or less; track and forecast all changes in the dynamics of volcanic activity, including the near onset of strong explosive events. The paper describes the technology features for integrating Himawari-8 data into VolSatView and the main possibilities of working with them, implemented now
in the system.

Since 2011, experts from IVS FEB RAS, SRI RAS, CC FEB RAS and FE Planeta RC are operating and developing the “Remote monitoring of Volcanic Activity in Kamchatka and the Kurile Islands” (VolSatView) information sys-tem that utilize all the available satellite data, weather and video observations to ensure continues monitoring and study of volcanic activity in Kamchatka and the Kurile Islands. This paper provides the capabilities of VolSatView for real-time monitoring of volcanoes, analysis of eruptions dynamics and their products, and forecasting of eruptive activity.

On 14-18 June 2017, three volcanoes of the Kamchatka Northern volcanic group produced eight explosive eruptions: six Sheveluch (two powerful and four moderate eruptions), one continuous ash emissions at Klyuchevskoy and one powerful eruption of Bezymianny. The most complete information about these eruptions was obtained during the analysis of satellite data in the information system “Monitoring of Volcanoes Activity in Kamchatka and the Kuriles" (VolSatView, http://volcanoes.smislab.ru). Thanks to the data from the Himawari-8 satellite, we managed to recover all events happened in the area of the volcanoes: the onset of their explosions and ash falls in nearby villages, the size of the ash clouds, direction of their movement, etc. For example, ash clouds from these eruptions moved more than 4500 km southeast from the volcanoes. Ash deposits covered about 47800 km2 of the territory of Kamchatka. In addition, based on the Himawari-8 satellite data, the animated picture of 14-18 June 2017 explosive events was created illustrating short duration of powerful explosive eruptions and long persistence of ash clouds in the atmosphere that represent a real danger for aerial transport: http://kamchatka.volcanoes.smislab.ru/animation/sample.gif