Assessing the altitude and dispersion of volcanic plumes using MISR multi-angle imaging: An assessment of 16 years of volcanic eruptions on the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia.

Volcanic eruptions represent a significant source of atmospheric aerosols and can display local, regional and global effects, impacting earth systems and human populations. In order to assess the relative impacts of these events, accurate plume injection altitude measurements are needed. In this work, volcanic plumes generated from seven volcanoes located on the Kamchatka Peninsula (Shiveluch, Kliuchevskoi, Bezymianny, Tolbachik, Kizimen, Karymsky and Zhupanovsky), were identified utilizing the 16-year record of the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadimeter (MISR). MISR is capable of the classifying injection altitude, plume profile and dispersion characteristics of eruptive products, and facilitates the assessments of variations in volcanic activity over time, though with some gaps due to its 400 km swath width. These data were used in concert with existing plume observations from ground, airborne and other satellite-based reports produced by the Global Volcanism Program (GVP) to identify trends in the reporting of plume characteristics over time, with MISR representing a continuous baseline for comparison. This assessment identified improvements in the monitoring techniques employed, such as the deployment of new instrumentation, as demonstrated by reduced disparities between MISR retrievals and reported eruption altitudes. Additional data was incorporated from global reanalysis models to help assess common plume dispersion characteristics against local meteorological conditions, such as determining the degree to which atmospheric stability structure affects plume dispersion patterns in the region.